Neglected
by Hoshiro Raider
Summary: Some little thing that I somehow forgot to mention. One-shots and shtuff I don't need here.
1. Possibilities

Hey. It's been a while since I've last heard from you again.

Are you doing alright? I hope you are wherever you may be. I miss the last time that I saw you, so much. I try not to mind, but hey.

Losing someone that you love and trying to move on after that is difficult.

It's taken me a while, and I still haven't gotten over you since I left. You gave me the happiness that I so desperately needed after everything went whack.

I'm still sorry that you're gone. It was my own choice, but sometimes I still regret it.

I want to feel you again. See you again. Hear you.

But I can't.

I'm not ready to go back again either. I'm so indecisive, aren't I?

It's usually at this point that you'd knock my head and tell me that I'm an idiot.

And yeah, I'm an idiot, I know that. Only told me over 9000 times.

Haha, yeah. Old joke, I know.

I'm too used to hearing your voice now. I should've gotten used to time without you, but you know me. Stubborn.

I expected you to say something at that point.

Oh well.

It's just me being boring and like I said, stubborn.

Call me again sometime. Call me…

…

Restart?

Yes  
No

…

I don't know what I'm doing.

…

Continue?

Yes  
No

…

You idiot.

…

Are you completely sure?

Yes  
No

…

I know that. But I'll do it anyways.


	2. Friendship Song

"Minato," Hamuko growled, clearly frustrated by the situation before her. He had to fall asleep again, and when he was asleep it was always hard for him to wake up, even with somebody else's help. It was the pinnacle of stubbornness and he didn't even have to do anything to be that irritating.

"Minato," she whined, shaking him from his shoulders, hoping that he would wake up. "Can't you wake up?" Hamuko sighed.

"Hamuko," Minato groaned, turning his head away from her direction and to the side. "Stop it…" he sighed.

"But we were supposed to go and do eat around the strip mall, don't tell me you're gonna break that promise," she said with a positively heart-broken and shaky voice. She was half-joking with her tone however; it was partly as an act to get Minato to feel sorry for what he was going and the other half was her worrying about not going with him. Trusted friends didn't break promises to each other, right?

Minato slowly cracked one of his silver eyes open and gazed at Hamuko's expression. He could tell. She really did want to go with him, and he did say that he would earlier in the day. Minato sighed. Well, he wasn't one to break promises. And besides, it was Hamuko. Hamuko was always fun to hang out with, if perhaps too lively and bubbly for his own taste.

"No, I won't," he said reassuringly. Even though he valued his sleep, he valued his friends more. "Can you just let me pick up some stuff from my room? Then we can go," Minato asked.

Hamuko nodded happily as he finally got up. "Alright then!" she said cheerfully.

After a few minutes, Minato came down from the upper floors with his wallet and phone in hand. "Let's go Hamuko," he said. "Where do ya wanna go?" Minato asked, looking in his wallet for any sign of money. Thankfully there was quite a bit there that he could use. No doubt that they might've been buying a little bit considering that they were going around to the malls and all.

"Um, I'm not really sure," Hamuko laughed nervously, looking to Minato with a questioning gaze and trying to say that he would probably have to pick.

Actually, Minato found it kinda cute when she did that, and he couldn't really refuse it. "Well," he nodded. "I wanna get some ramen…"

"Um, are you sure?" Hamuko laughed. "Not that I'm complaining, it's just haven't you been hanging out with Shinji and Aki a lot so I thought you might be tired of it already…" she chuckled.

"Nah, I think I can manage," Minato replied as the two of the started towards the dorm doors and out. "Besides, who can ever get tired of a Hagakure special?" he chuckled.

"I can't," Hamuko laughed along with him. "They're too good," she said.

After a few minutes of walking, Minato and Hamuko reached the Iwatodai strip mall. It was early evening, but one wouldn't have been able to tell since the grey scale cloud cover was that thick. Not to mention, it was cold. Hamuko hated the cold since she never was able to stand against it very well. Minato however, quite liked chilly weather as if to contrast her even more.

"Are you cold, Hamuko?" he asked as he saw her shiver a little bit and pull up her scarf.

"Um…" Hamuko had half a mind to say that she wasn't cold and that she could handle it, but honestly… She really couldn't and Minato had already noticed that she was. "Yeah, I am," she said sheepishly.

"I see," he mumbled. "Ah, you don't have to but…" Minato said awkwardly as he took off his jacket and draped it around Hamuko.

Hamuko looked at him with a curious expression before saying, "Thanks Minato."

Minato wasn't awkward around Hamuko because of the usual reasons that a guy could be awkward around a girl. He wasn't careful with the way he acted because Minato wanted Hamuko to like or love him; not at all. He was careful because he knew that the way they acted around each other was a bit closer than most and sometimes they were close enough and hanging around together that it was almost like they were a couple. But they weren't. They were best friends, and it was because of that he never wanted to imply something like him liking Hamuko.

"No problem," Minato nodded. "We should get going," he urged.

"Mmhm," Hamuko agreed before stepping off to the upper floors of the mall.

Minato sighed. Good thing he was good against cold… After that thought, he followed along with Hamuko.

They got to Hagakure, finding that more people were starting to leave. Neither Minato nor Hamuko could blame them. It was getting closer and closer to closing time after all. Nevertheless, the two of them sat down at a table and got their orders.

"Minato, who do you think can slurp the loudest between the two of us?" Hamuko asked excitedly. Slurping up ramen and just noodles in general was fun, and polite. How about that? Minato looked to her with a curious expression.

"I dunno. But, I think I got some practice in with Aki and Shinji to know that I'm pretty loud," Minato said. Someone else might've sounded a bit more enthusiastic about that thought, but of course, Minato was as blank as ever, with only a tiny smile creasing his lips; so small that someone who didn't know Minato would think that he wasn't displaying any emotions at all.

"I see," Hamuko nodded sagely. "Well, I'm curious now so, do you wanna try seeing who can slurp the loudest when the food gets here?" she grinned competitively.

Minato looked back at Hamuko with an amused expression. "Sure," he replied, idly casting his eyes around the store as they both waited. And then his eyes met hers.

She looked… incredibly bored. He couldn't blame Hamuko after how long he had known her. Minato know her well enough to know that she had a pretty short attention span when it came to waiting for things. Ideally, she would have something else with her that would take her mind off of the boring monotony for a few minutes.

"What? You know I'm bored," Hamuko smiled slightly when she caught Minato looking at her.

"Yeah, I know. Do you think that distraction is contagious?" he asked.

"Sure is," she sighed. "Man, I'm getting hungry…"

"I am too, but I have a feeling it should be coming soon," Minato said absentmindedly.

Sure enough, but a few moments after he had spoken those very words, the ramen appeared in all its glory. "Thank you!" Hamuko chirped as the waiter was about to leave.

"So, when?" Minato asked, breaking apart his chopsticks evenly enough.

"Whenever. This is for sound, not speed after all!" Hamuko replied, sticking her tongue out as she too broke apart her chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu!"

A few noisy minutes passed between the two competitors and it wasn't easy to see who the winner was. Unfortunately for Minato, Hamuko was just a tiny bit louder than him and she was the one who won out. Because she was putting so much effort into slurping as loud as possible she also finished bit faster than him.

"Gochisousama," Hamuko smiled as she put her chopsticks down on top of her napkin. "Hey, I even finished faster than you Minato!" she laughed.

"Yeah, you did," Minato smiled slightly as he too finished. "Damn, that was loud…" he mumbled.

"Well yeah, this stuff is too awesome not to be eaten that quickly!" Hamuko said cheerfully. "Should we get going?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Minato agreed. "It's gonna be even colder out there again," he said quietly under his breath. And he knew how much Hamuko hated the cold.

"Ugh, cold," Hamuko groaned. "I mean, seriously, winter and Christmas is awesome and stuff, but I hate how cold it gets here…" she sighed. Hamuko didn't complain about too many things, but maybe she grumbled about homework and other things like that, but winter and cold was the one exception.

"Mmhm," Minato nodded absentmindedly. "Well… we better get going before the temperature goes down even more," he said, once again taking off his jacket and giving it to Hamuko, knowing that she would need it.

"Eh, Minato you're gonna make me feel bad for me stealing your jacket all the time," Hamuko laughed.

"If you're the one stealing it," Minato said as he pulled up his own scarf, "I wouldn't mind." Hamuko couldn't see the smile that was on his face as he said that since it was covered, but it was there, sitting silently under that cloth.

Hamuko looked at Minato with curious eyes before she slipped the jacket on, trying to gather up some heat in advance before they left the store. "Thanks Minato," she laughed a little. "Let's go then."

Like Minato had said, it had gotten colder since they had entered the store and it was snowing a little heavier as well. The sky hadn't cleared up at all; in fact Minato and Hamuko thought that it was even thicker than before. But maybe it was just their imaginations. They weren't able to see the clouds as clearly since it was getting darker.

Minato and Hamuko passed through the mall with little conversation between the two. However, there was one topic that kept on popping up, and that was the matter of presents for the coming Christmas. "Have you thought of what you were going to get everyone yet?" Minato asked, though he could see from the sad expression in Hamuko's eyes that she hadn't found any.

"No, and I've been thinking about it for a while now," Hamuko sighed. "What about you Minato?"

"Me neither."

Hamuko looked at her friend with an almost incredulous look before her gaze softened. "You haven't either?" she smiled slightly under her scarf, looking at the ground.

"No… it's kinda hard to choose stuff like that," Minato chuckled. "Though, from what I heard from Junpei, not a lot of the others have decided either."

"Really?" Hamuko laughed a little. "I see… so I'm not the only one."

"Not at all… but I don't think it'll matter as much this time," Minato pulled his scarf down from his face as they were getting closer to the dorm. "I think… everyone's just looking to get through the next year now."

"That's pretty true," Hamuko nodded, doing the same as Minato. "I just think that, no matter what happens, we're all still going to be friends."

She turned heel as they finally reached the steps that led to the dorm. "And you'll still be my bestie," Hamuko added, bringing a slight smile to Minato's face.

"I'll still be your bestie too," he chuckled.


	3. Snow Blues

Shinjiro waited for Koromaru to run back with his toy. It was that time of year again; Christmas. Shinjiro didn't completely care too much for Christmas. It wasn't quite his forte, giving gifts or anything like that. He wasn't even that good at acting cheerful with all that 'Christmas spirit' or whatever. But, he figured he could at least give Koromaru a day out at the shrine to spend time with his late owner and all. Dogs had those kinds of needs too.

He didn't really tell anyone that he was going out with Koromaru, since he also wanted some alone time. And Koromaru didn't exactly equate to that much talking company; mostly because, Koromaru couldn't speak at all. He could bark, snarl and growl, but he didn't speak. So in that respect, Shinjiro was quite alone.

So, Shinjiro didn't expect to find a sudden weight and force on his back, and he almost tripped over because of it. But being as strong as he was, he was able to recover before anything really bad happened. "Hey, whatcha doing here?" he heard someone all too familiar ask.

"Ninja as ever…" Shinjiro muttered. He knew who it was. There were only so many people that hugged, no, glomped that openly. Actually, there was only one person that did that, and it was Hamuko. Only Hamuko was bold enough to do something like that. "What are you doing here then?" he asked as he fixed his beanie into place again.

Hamuko got off of Shinjiro with a giggle and finally moved to face him. "Eh, just saw you around, and just wanted to say hi!" she smiled. "You hanging out with anybody or something right now?" Hamuko asked with a grin. Knowing Shinjiro, he probably wasn't hanging out with a 'person.'

"Well, aside from this furball," Shinjiro pointed at Koromaru who was coming back from a successful catch. Well, Koromaru was that fast after all, so he wasn't all that surprised to see him back too soon. "I'm the only one here," he explained as Koromaru sidled up to Shinjiro's leg and sat, tail wagging and tongue still hanging out.

"Oh, I see! Hello Koro-chan," Hamuko waved to the Shiba-Inu, who gave a happy bark in response.

"So now that you've said your 'hi', you aren't going to tell me you were here just because you saw me," Shinjiro said gruffly. "This place is out of the way…"

Hamuko got into a pretend thinking position and pressed her finger lightly onto her chin. "Well… I think it had something to do with it being Christmas and giving out presents, or praying for well-wishes… something like that," she smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Ah. So you came to pray," Shinjiro nodded. "I didn't really do my prayers," he said. Besides, he didn't think of his wish as that much to worry about.

"Yeah… oh! Do you wanna then?" Hamuko asked.

Shinjiro sighed. He knew that she was probably going to ask that. "Sure," he said, almost begrudgingly. Though he really wasn't at the prospect; that was just how his tone came off.

"Come on!" she laughed as she took a hold of Shinjiro's wrist and dragged him over to the offertory box and the bell. Koromaru followed along just after the two of them.

Shinjiro quietly mused about how bubbly she was, even in the frankly dismal weather. It was cold, but yet not enough for it to be snowing. The smile that she had on was worth being taken along like he was; really, he didn't mind, even if it sounded like he was complaining about it. "Alright, alright…" Shinjiro muttered as they finally reached the offertory box. "Now stop dragging me around," he sighed.

"Yay," Hamuko grinned as she removed a few coins from her pocket. In that respect, she really was prepared to pray once she got to the shrine.

Shinjiro did the same after Hamuko and pulled the rope on the bell above the shrine, joining his hands as he prayed.

Hamuko seemingly took a bit longer to pray than Shinjiro did, and he ended up having to wait for her for a little bit until she was done. Once Hamuko opened her eyes, she gave a sheepish look and smile to Shinjiro before saying, "Sorry, I took so long…"

"It's no big deal," Shinjiro shrugged as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Hm, if you say so," Hamuko replied. "So, did you wish for anything in particular? You don't have to tell me, I'm just gonna tell you what I wished for anyways," she laughed.

"Then tell yours first," Shinjiro said.

"I was kinda wishing that everyone in SEES would be able to stay together for as long as possible," Hamuko smiled, thinking about it. Granted, it wasn't a realistic wish and she knew that. But she could dream. Shinjiro had the same thoughts, thinking that it wouldn't last for that long.

Shinjiro nodded and sighed slightly. "I wished to… forget… about some stuff," he said with a slightly pained expression.

Hamuko blinked, already knowing what kind of things that he meant, but she asked the obvious question anyways. "Really? Like what?" she asked.

Shinjiro lowered his head as he thought about the things that he had done so painfully wrong. Surely, the memories he had were not all too pleasant. "You probably already know," he mumbled.

Hamuko nodded to herself. She did. But in spite of what she knew, she smiled. "It's okay! You have time, however much you have of it, you still have some!" she reassured, placing her hand on Shinjiro's shoulder.

Shinjiro sighed. There was something about the way that she reassured him… and the recurring thought was this: how the hell does this girl make me feel so… weak? "Tch, I guess… why don't you go back? You probably have people to give gifts to," he mumbled. It was yet another one of his attempts to distance himself from Hamuko.

But knowing Hamuko, she was extremely stubborn. And she didn't want to leave Shinji alone. "Eh, you're no fun. Besides, I don't have much in the ways of gifts at all, so I've just been going around and spending time with everyone. And that, includes you so you're stuck with me for another half hour," she said playfully, sticking her tongue out.

And right at the very moment…

A snowflake fell, right on her tongue. Shinjiro looked up at the greyed skies and said quietly, "Snow?"

"Damn, that's cold," Hamuko pouted and deadpanned at the sky as the snowflake melted quickly. "Why that very moment sky?" she sighed.

Shinjiro smirked slightly and chuckled, "Because it's cliché."

Hamuko sighed and muttered about coincidences and Fate. "I have to wonder about my luck," she mumbled before she returned her gaze to Shinjiro.

Shinjiro thought about how amusing her reaction was before he noticed that she was staring at him intently. "…something on my face?" he asked.

"Nup! I just think you should smile more often, that's all," Hamuko replied nonchalantly. However her expression turned into a smirk as she thought of another remark. "Always scowling like that, you're gonna get wrinkles early, old man," she snickered as Shinjiro's blank expression turned into more of a deadpan.

"Don't call me old man," Shinjiro muttered. "How can you always be smiling? You look like an eight year old kid sometimes," he shot back.

Hamuko merely smiled at that, and replied, "But at least eight year olds don't have wrinkles." She grinned as Shinjiro kept deadpanning at her.

Though really, he was thinking about how easily he walked into that joke. However, Shinjiro being Shinjiro, he hid that fact. "Whatever," he said.

Hamuko giggled. "Awwh, don't take it so hard Shinji! You can save yourself from the wrath of the wrinkles yet!" she laughed. "Can't you smile for once?" she pouted.

Shinjiro cursed himself, thinking about how adorable that expression was. Come on, just play along with what she says and everything will be fine. "Like… this?" he asked, a half-hearted smile creasing his face.

Hamuko scrutinized his expression for a while before saying, "Ehh, Shinji… what the heck can I do to make you smile? That's not real!" she pouted once more.

What can you do to make me smile, huh? Shinjiro thought about it, and before long, another, true smile came onto face.

Unbeknownst to Shinjiro who was still stuck in his thoughts, Hamuko saw that smile. "Wow…" she said quietly, trapped in wonder at how happy he looked. "That looks so much better! You should smile like that more often Shinji!" she said, breaking Shinjiro from his thoughts.

Crap! He was smiling!? "No, I'm not smiling…" he said defiantly, turning away from Hamuko.

Hamuko merely giggled and pressed, "You were! Don't deny it!"

"Hmph," Shinjiro mumbled, still turned away from her.

"Difficult aren't you?" she said, but despite those words… she smiled as she thought of it. "It makes me happier to see you smiling a lot more, so can't you?" Hamuko asked. She knew that Shinjiro cared for her a lot, so it was bit of something that she could use to her advantage. Besides, smiling a lot was a good thing.

If it made Hamuko happier huh? "Maybe," he said.

Hamuko punched Shinjiro on the shoulder lightly, but smiled a little more. Getting closer to what she wanted to hear. "Just 'maybe' Shinji?" she laughed.

Shinjiro sighed and faced Hamuko again, this time with a smile. "There, happy?"

Hamuko pretended to scrutinize Shinjiro's expression, but she knew as soon as she saw that smile that it was for real. "Yeah…" she replied, smiling back at Shinjiro.

Shinjiro sighed. "You really are a piece of work, you know that?"

"Proud of it!" she giggled.

Shinjiro shook his head. She was like that, all the time… "Figures…"

"Yup!" she replied. A cold breeze passed by the three at the shrine, and it made Hamuko pull up her scarf so that she could stay warmer. "But geez, it's getting cold though… Don't you think we should go back now? Koro-chan might be cold too. He's weak to cold, isn't he," she said, throwing a worried glance to Koromaru, who whined as another wind picked up.

"Yeah, we should," Shinjiro replied. "I think he's had enough time with his late owner already…"

"Cool! I think Koromaru's had his fun too," Hamuko smiled, before pausing. "…pun not intended!" she said, after realizing what she said.

Shinjiro snorted at that lame joke before saying, "Sure it wasn't…"

"Yup! I'm so glad you agree!" Hamuko said sarcastically.


	4. Winter Stars

Hamuko sighed repeatedly as she looked out of the greyed windows, encrusted with frost from her favourite demon's cold breath. It most likely isn't the one that you're thinking of, Jack Frost but rather a demon named Raiho.

He was much more powerful than his Jack Frost counterpart and looked more sophisticated with his detective cosplay and police hat. Those differences appealed to her much more, but she was quickly beginning to realise that she was getting side-tracked. Unfortunately for Hamuko, it was quite the normality.

Now that it was getting into the colder parts of winter's grasp, the snow became heavier by the hour. It was approaching Christmas Eve and well, Christmas in its entirety. Of course, Hamuko was excited by it. Christmas Eve was definitely one of the happier times of the year and a needed respite from the events that had occurred recently; Ryoji's revelation and Ikutsuki's betrayal just to name a few.

Of course with Christmas on the way, there was also the expectation of gifts.

And that was what made Hamuko so jittery. Hamuko had been able to keep close the fact that she hadn't the time or ideas to get her boyfriend, Akihiko, a gift for Christmas. It was something that had been troubling her far more than any kind of Shadow or enemy; after all, what kind of person didn't get a present for the person they loved on such a special occasion. It was truly horrifying, that thought, and greater than any amount of Fear that a foe could hope to inflict on Hamuko.

But from anyone else's point of view, anyone who had known what she was thinking and feeling would have told her that she was thinking too hard about something as simple as a small gift, and that she should take things easy. But, Hamuko couldn't. It was Akihiko she was talking about. He might've been obsessed with protein drinks, training and was blunt or clueless a lot of the time, but under all of it, he was the sweetest guy that she had ever met.

She laughed slightly as she thought about how easy it was for him to bring a smile to her face. Just by thinking about him, he did. Akihiko made it so pathetically easy for her to blush when she was under pressure too. However, for Hamuko it was easy for her to do the same. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for Akihiko, Hamuko was an expert at stunning him.

And once again, she had been getting off track. It happened too often for her to consider it a good thing.

Right, she was supposed to be thinking of a present for Aki-kun. Hamuko kept looking out with a sigh. However, she wasn't looking at what was beyond the glass; she was looking at the window itself. That was how uninspired she was.

Was there anything? Anything at all? Well… she did vaguely remember him saying before that he liked pancakes at least. She wasn't completely sure when or how, but she did. Maybe she could do something along those lines. She wasn't a bad cook, so it was an option.

And yet, there was something to that idea that made it seem… empty. At least, emptier than she thought it would have been. Was it just not enough? Or was Hamuko just an overachiever when it came to people that she cared about? That option felt as if there was something much more… she could do more than just making some pancakes, right?

"Damn," she mumbled, wracking her brain for any other ideas.

In her thoughtful state, she almost didn't notice the faint sound of knocking against glass. It couldn't have been the window rattling, since there wasn't any wind. So, what could it have been? Could it have been something in her room? That very thought was eerie.

Things that lurked inside like spiders… sent shivers down Hamuko's spine. Even just seeing one creep in the corner of a hallway or bedroom, or even… her bedroom, god forbid. It was the worst feeling. She'd never know if that spider was going to do something like in the movies where they literally crawled into the victim's ears or something, and crept through the orifices in that person's fa—

No! Stop thinking about that! You'll just get yourself more creeped out than you need to be.

Hamuko was still mystified by the sound. There was just something that she couldn't put her finger on, and it didn't make her scared; it actually gave her a strange sense of happiness. She wasn't scared at all. Confused and perplexed, yes. But fearful? No. Perhaps it was that feeling of having no fear that should've scared her instead…

She reached out to pull the window frame open which was much colder than usual. Her fingers slipped underneath a small ledge and lifted the window open. It was just enough to let oozing cold air wrap around her fingers.

It was a cool, stagnant kind of cold, like the kind that you felt when your hand was placed inside a fridge; it didn't hurt or numb your hands after a short while, and at the right temperature it could be considered pleasant.

But of course, she wasn't to linger on how some cool air felt. She was supposed to be finding out what was making that sound but the sound had disappeared. She still couldn't be sure though, so she opened her window all the way up, finding the snow dusted streets and rooftops and a few frigid winds coiling into her room.

Hamuko poked her head outside and looked around, finding that nothing was there except for the overcast sky and the snow that fell from the clouds high above. After a few moments, she raised an eyebrow and shut the window with a sigh. It looked like there wasn't anything there.

"That was weird," Hamuko mumbled as she returned to her seat. Not to mention pointless.

"Yup! It sure is weird ho!"

Huh?

Who was that? And for another matter, who says 'ho'? Wait… there was something different about that voice. It was too playful and high pitched to fit in with any representation of Santa Claus that she could remember. It sounded more like a young boy's voice in fact. She turned around slowly, still wondering who it could possibly be.

Behind her, she found none other than…

"Raiho here!" the detective dressed Jack Frost introduced himself, pulling a salute to the police hat that sat on top of his head. "But uh… do you know what I'm doing here ho? I was doing work, hee ho!" he asked with a chipper voice. Huh. Maybe he was happy to get out of work or something?

Hamuko shook her head dumbly. She felt a storm of emotions brewing inside her: a combination of surprise and the urge to hug him because of the adorable-ness that he exuded. But she had to resist. She wasn't quite sure that the little snowman would be very appreciative of being hugged to no end.

"Well, better just figure out why I'm here," Raiho said with an excited tone. "Do you have a problem, hee ho?"

"Um…" Hamuko started, not really knowing where to start or whether she should tell the demon anyway. She had only just met him after all. But then again, he did ask, so maybe it was okay for her to say. There were a number of other things that she wanted to ask Raiho about as well such as how long he was going to stay, if he was planning to. Another thing to ask would be whether he had any idea why he was summoned to her room. Bah, she was getting side-tracked again. "Well… I was having a problem thinking of a present that I wanted to get for someone…"

"A present ho? Someone special ho?" Raidou asked. If Hamuko didn't know any better under that perpetual smile of his, it almost felt like he was smirking at her. But she shrugged it off. That couldn't be it, could it?

"Yeah, it's… someone dear," Hamuko smiled slightly as she thought about Akihiko.

"You know, your cheeks look so hot I could melt just by touching them ho!" Raiho chuckled, laughing at Hamuko's now bewildered expression. "You get embarrassed heesily!" he smiled, spinning his way into Hamuko's lap.

"What?" Hamuko blinked and her cheeks turned redder than before, but more from embarrassment.

Raiho just turned around and looked up with a grin. What with the perpetual smile that Jacks had, and by extension, Raihos, had, she wasn't too sure. "See hee? It's very easy, ho!"

Hamuko deadpanned at Raiho before sighing and standing up with a determined expression. "C-Come on, let's just get going!"

"You're funny, ho," Raiho laughed slightly as he hopped off Hamuko and into the air. "Let's go then ho!"

…

"So, what were you thinking of getting him first, ho?" Raiho asked as he kept his pace behind Hamuko and bounced around in the cold air like a kid in summer. Hamuko briefly wondered whether he was actually that happy all the time; she couldn't really tell anything because of his smile, and the only thing that she draw anything from was his tone.

No one else could see Raiho as he floated through the air, so if Hamuko wasn't careful, it could look like she was talking to herself. Raiho was nice enough to tell her that piece of information, even though he would've never considered telling anyone else about why no one could see demons before. He wondered about why he did, but eventually he had chalked it up to her being cute and just left it at that.

"Well… I thought about making him some pancakes since he likes them a lot, but I felt like it wasn't enough," Hamuko sighed as she pulled up her scarf. She was never too fond of cold weather and was more of a spring and summer person. But alas, those seasons had left already.

"Aw, really ho?" Raiho laughed. "It's nice of you to think a lot about it."

"I guess, but I still haven't come up with anything else… and I still don't think it's enough," she explained.

"Hamuko-chan, I don't really think this is something you need to think about too much, ho!" Raiho exclaimed, landing in a pile of snow and scattering a few wet crystals around. "I think that this Aki guy, whoever he is, would just be happy if you were with him! It isn't as if Christmas is just about giving people gifts and stuff, you know, ho?" he said as he hopped off the snow and back into the air.

"But I still don't think it's enough…" Hamuko said stubbornly as she walked into Paulownia Mall.

Raiho looked up at Hamuko with a curious expression before shrugging it off and going along with what she wanted to do. She was pretty stubborn… With that thought, he hopped through the doors after Hamuko.

There were quite a few people around. While Japan wasn't that big on Christmas celebrations, the night before was important to a lot of couples. It was kind of like Valentine's Day and White Day but on Christmas Eve. It was pretty hectic to say the least.

Hamuko definitely wasn't the only one fretting about it.

Hamuko looked around at the different shops, promptly avoiding the fashion and brand name stores of that nature, seeing as it wasn't really Akihiko's thing. If it were up to him, he'd probably just be wearing a t-shirt and shorts all the time just so he could train more. Hamuko knew him well enough to know that if he wanted to get clothes, he'd get them himself. Instead, she went to Shinshoudo antiques. It was also a gift shop so maybe she could find something there.

"Huh, why do I feel something coming from that shop hee ho?" Raiho asked as he bounced ahead in front of the store's door and looked up. "There's mana and stuff coming from all over heere!" he exclaimed, waving his arms about.

"It's probably because of the Nihil Fusion," Hamuko mumbled. That was right, the very same Nihil Fusion that she used to make weapons. Oh the great lengths she went to obtain the Evil Gloves… That was horrifying. She was never going to fuse Mara again.

"Hm, let's go inside ho! Se-heems interesting ho!" Raiho said cheerfully.

"Alright then," Hamuko said, opening the door.

"Hello?" Hamuko asked as she stepped into the antique shop. It was quiet, yet stirring with energy.

"Oh, Hamuko-san. Do you need something?" the mysterious shop owner said as she stepped out from the back room and put her glasses on. "Another gift for someone?"

"Yeah… but I don't know what to give him this time," Hamuko admitted with a sheepish expression.

"Hm, I see… who is your little friend there?" she asked, pointing to where Raiho was floating.

"You can see-hee me?" Raiho said with a touch of wonder in his voice. He was quite intrigued for another human could see him. The unbeknownst fact was that people that had the potential or were at least aware of the Dark Hour were able to sense demons.

"Yes," the shop owner nodded. "Where did you find him Hamuko-san?"

"Um well, Raiho was just… mysteriously summoned here or something like that," Hamuko explained shakily. She didn't have much of an idea why Raiho was summoned or why he was there. Perhaps it was to help her, but she wasn't all that sure.

"Interesting," the shop owner nodded. "Raiho, do you know how you were summoned here?"

"Well, actually, now that you mention it, I remember seeing a really, rea-hee-lly bright light, and then I was poofed heere!" Raiho exclaimed. "It was all weird and then I found heeself outside her window, ho!"

The shop owner nodded in understanding.

"Would you happen to have anything with you that you didn't have before?" she asked Raiho.

How she came to that conclusion was a mystery to both Raiho and Hamuko, but considering how curious the very nature of the store was, and the more mystifying shop owner, Hamuko just let it be.

"Me-hee?" I dunno, I haven't checked my super awesome pockets, ho!" Raiho exclaimed. His eyes widened as his fingers grasped something- he didn't know what -in his pocket. He pulled said item from the pocket and presented it in his open palm.

"What's that?" Hamuko asked as she looked the small test tube over.

"Isn't that a Kuda?" Raiho asked excitedly. "Kinda like Raidou's ones, ho!"

"Kuda?" Hamuko raised an eyebrow. She had never heard of this 'kuda' thing before.

"They can keep demons inside, hee ho!" Raiho explained quickly. "But uh… I kinda don't know what it's doing heere."

"Unfortunately demons aren't my area of expertise. I only know about Persona," the shop owner said before walking to the back of the store. "I think though, you have what you need."

"Dunno what Pers-hona things are, but I wanna open it!" Raiho chuckled, "Can I?"

She wasn't quite sure what was going to pop out from that little test tube, but if it was something dangerous, she was confident that she could handle it. "Sure Raiho-kun," she replied.

With an almost giddy expression, Raiho popped the cap from the tube and watched as the mist formed…

"Aw, there isn't a demon ho," Raiho said slightly disappointed.

"But uh… what's that?" Hamuko asked, looking at the plushie. "I didn't know that these… Kuda things could keep plushies inside them too."

"I didn't either, but apparently they can ho?" Raiho said sceptically before he picked it up from the floor. "Wow, it looks just like me-hee!" he said cheerfully.

"A plushie that looks just like you?" Hamuko laughed. "Wow… It looks amazing…" she said, marvelling at the complete likeness of it to the Raiho in front of her. She was starting to remember why she loved Raihos so much. There was something about the police hat atop its head that made it look so much more dapper than just a plain Jack Frost. For her, the touch of sophistication from a Raiho's attire made them just that much better.

"What do you mean by that, ho?" Raiho asked curiously.

"Well, it looks just like _you_!" Hamuko said. "Raihos are just so cute, and that is even better," Hamuko giggled.

"Hee-you like Raiho?" he said, with that perpetual grin of his growing even wider. If it was even possible. But Hamuko was pretty sure that it was.

"Yup! You look a lot better than Jack Frost," Hamuko replied.

"Someone likes me better than Jack Frost, ho?" Raiho said with an incredulous tone as he stared up at Hamuko.

"Someone likes me-hee more than Jack Frost!" Raiho cheered, bouncing happily about on his boots.

Hamuko still wasn't too sure why Raiho was so happy about being liked more than Jack Frost, but that happiness of his made Hamuko smile even wider than before. Even if she didn't know, she could just feel happy for him and laugh about it.

"Hamuko-chan, you look happy too, ho!" Raiho noted as Hamuko started grinning. She hadn't exactly been smiling the whole time that they were together, presumably still thinking about that 'Aki' guy of hers, but seeing her that happy was really cool to see.

"I guess I do!" Hamuko laughed a little.

"You should smile like that more often, ho!" Raiho chuckled.

"Eh?" she said with a surprised expression.

"You should! I think that Aki guy would be-hee happy seeing you happy too!" Raiho exclaimed. "Wouldn't that be cool, ho?"

Hamuko blinked, thinking about it. Wait, wasn't she looking for a present so that Akihiko would be happy?

"It would be great!" Hamuko laughed.

"Here!" he said as the Raiho doll was shoved into her grip. "If you have that, won't hee-you be happy? Then Aki guy can be happy too, ho! You don't need anything to make him happy ho! Just be your happy self and hee'll be happy too! I think that'll work ho! What do hee-you think?"

Hamuko nodded dumbly, looking at the Raiho doll with wonder. "Yeah… I think that'll work," she smiled, thinking about it.

"Cool ho! Then, you don't need my help anymore ho! Think you'll be-hee okay on your own!" Raiho said with glee. "See-hee you later?" he asked.

"See ya later Raiho," Hamuko said as she grabbed the frost demon into a quick hug before letting go. "Thank you!"

"See ya Hamuko-chan!" he grinned before disappearing in a puff of snow.

…

The snow drifted to the ground and settled silently on the ground. The day had been like that for a while and Akihiko had just been spending the hours away exercising outside. When he came back from training, he found that there was a mysterious note slipped beneath his door with only the words 'meet me at the roof.' Akihiko could guess who wrote it from the handwriting.

What did Hamuko want?

He found Hamuko standing in the middle of the roof, watching as snowflakes fell to her feet.

"Aki-kun!" Hamuko laughed as she ran up to him. She had her hands behind her back, as if she were hiding something…

"Hamuko… what did you call me up here for?" Akihiko asked.

"Just wanted to give you something," Hamuko said, trying to keep a straight face.

"But why now and not on Christmas?"

"Why not?" she shrugged before Akihiko chuckled. Hamuko was spontaneous as ever.

"Alright then. What is it?" he asked.

Hamuko shoved into Akihiko's grip the Raiho doll that she had gotten from Raiho. "I know, it's not really your thing, plushies, but I couldn't think of much else," she smiled nervously.

"What are you talking about Hamuko?" Akihiko laughed turning the doll so that he could see its face. He felt that there was something familiar about the detective-cosplaying Jack Frost that he was holding but Akihiko eventually shrugged it off. "It looks great," he smiled.

"Ehe, glad you like it Aki-kun!" Hamuko smiled brightly.

Akihiko blinked. He hadn't seen Hamuko this happy before and smiling so vibrantly. Just seeing Hamuko smile like she did sent his heartbeat fluttering just seeing it. It was contagious. He couldn't help but be happy with her. This was one of, if not, the best moment of his life (besides the time when Hamuko said that she would be his girl).

Hamuko hugged Akihiko close and captured his lips in a kiss. "I love you Akihiko," Hamuko said quietly as she broke off, looking deep into his silver eyes.

"I love you too…" Akihiko replied, looking back into hers.

_They spent a long time together…_


	5. Lights

Glistening snowflakes drifted down from the darkened, matte skies. Few, scattered clouds like lay streaks in the night, and soft milky light poured from celestials' gaze. The streets were silent as if in prayer, and each lane and strip was painted down in that foggy quiet.

The insides of the houses were not, however. Warm, amber shine came from the blinking lights on the Christmas trees which hadn't been taken down yet, although the meaning of the ornaments was emptier than before. They were still draped from top to bottom in red, gold, white and other kinds of festive colours from the quickly fading Christmas season by the decorations, but below the bright shades and splashes of pigment, it was near bare.

In not so traditional western fashion, there were no fireplaces or anything of the sort flickering quietly and warming the interiors of the house in the background but rather, the harsher brightness of fluorescent lighting and the artificial warmth of heaters humming and whispering with tepid air.

However, this was not so for a couple staying awake for the big reveal of the coming year. Hamuko and Akihiko had been staying awake to greet the coming New Year. Traditional dishes had been eaten earlier that day with their old friends, but they mostly split up after meeting to spend time with others perhaps, a little closer to home. It was exactly what Hamuko and Akihiko had done.

Hamuko and Akihiko hadn't bothered to turn the heating on, despite the usual coldness of the winter season. They were warm enough just wrapped up in each other's arms, and idly chatting away the hour before midnight. Hamuko and Akihiko also hadn't bothered to turn many of their lights on while they spent the time watching some anime. It mightn't have been the best thing for their eyesight, but they didn't really care too much.


	6. Deception, Destruction, Damnation

Takao was a perfectly normal teenager with a perfectly normal life. One could say that it was almost too perfect, however since it seemed like it was, he never took it for granted at any moment. He was the kind of teen who spent as much family as he could with his parents and friends, and studied very hard. He was strong enough to handle a part time job and keep up with his large amount of school work, not to mention that he was somehow able to manage his time with his friends and family without cracking.

He loved his friends and family more than anything in the world, and he would definitely want to spend the rest of his life with all of them. After all, they were the best family and friends that he could ever ask for; they were supportive, helpful and all in all, a cheerful bunch that cared each other very much.

His mother, Mikuru, was loving and a gentle woman who cared for everyone and like Takao, was strong enough to handle her lively family's antics. After all, when you had bundles of joy like Takao and his little sister, Yui, it was surely a very bouncy family. She was especially encouraging to Takao, understand that high school was still a difficult part of life to get through, even if there was plenty of fun involved. In return, Takao did his absolute best to try and get the best grades and scores in everything that he did; everything that he did had a large amount of work and quality put into it.

Takao's father, Tanaka was a gruff man, however under that rough exterior of his, was a truly rare gem of a personality that of a wonderfully supportive and caring father. His very presence demanded some kind of respect, and it was no wonder that Takao turned out to be a hardworking boy, just like his father.

Yui, was… she was still particularly young compared to Takao, being only six when Takao was sixteen, however the two of them got along especially well. Yui was very sweet, and very cheerful, and always seemed to bring some kind of joy to the dinner table. She didn't ask for much except to be played with once in a while. The other times were spent at primary school, and it always seemed that she was glowing with vitality whenever she came back from school, presumably from getting along and playing with many children her age.

Takao always had time to go out to the city every once in a while, whether it was to look for materials for projects or just hang out with his friends. Speaking of, his friends were as loyal as loyal could be, and they were a pretty tight knit group. Not only that, but whether they were together or apart, they seemed to get along with everybody that they knew.

Maybe it was these kinds of qualities that made Takao fawned over by some girls at school. Not that anyone could blame them. Every girl at least wanted to meet Takao and see what he was like. The more eccentric of the bunch even erected shrines in his honour. Talk about obsessed and over the top.

Of course, if Takao ever found out about it, he would probably feel really awkward and ask his dad what he should do in that situation. It wasn't like there was anyone that he knew that was also in the same situation as him. And thankfully, he had stayed ignorant to that fact, (or perhaps just ignored it) all throughout high school so far.

Takao looked intently at the blackboard as more characters related to the Edo period showed up. He quickly took down notes on all of them, including making some little notes on how people in the Edo period lived. He had to admit that the Edo period was pretty interesting. And then you had the Sengoku era. Now that was just epicness wrapped in a white box with a red ribbon right there. Sounded like a kind of cake.

Shaking his head out of his musings, he answered the question that called for him fluently and without hesitation, earning him a look and nod of approval from his sensei, smiles from most of the girls and several silent chuckles from boys in the class. Quick as ever.

Takao quickly sat down as he realized how much attention he was starting to get from everyone and rubbed the back of his head, turning his attention back to the blackboard. He really should have been used to this by now, but Takao was by nature, a very modest young man. Whatever praise he got, he took to heart, rather than letting it go to his head, every time.

Once the bell rang for lunch, he was out the doors to meet his friends up on the roof. After all, they were waiting for him and there were things to be said about class, things to be exchanged!

"So, time to exchange notes?" Yuri suggested. Yuri was one of Takao's childhood friends and they had known each other since primary school. He could never really forget how the two of them met since it was a little unusual to say the least.

It definitely had something to do with Pokemon and how it was really, really awesome.

It went a little something like this: "Hey, you play Pokemon too!" Yuri said as he approached Takao. The meek boy looked up from his Famicom, and looked curiously up at the boy in front of him.

However, Takao simply smiled and said, "Yeah! Wanna play with me?"

Yuri's eyes lit up and nodded vigorously as he snatched his own famicom from his pocket and to Takao's surprise, a link cable.

"Alright! Let's go then!" Yuri shouted excitedly as he was about to plug the cable into the back of the Famicom, however Takao pulled back as he wasn't ready for that.

"Hey, let me save first before you do that!" he laughed as he pressed the start button.

It was something of an almost destined meeting for the two of them since they had so much chemistry going on between them. Now after all this time spent with each other they could safely say that they trusted each other about as much as any of them could their family and parents. Now that was one strong bond if there was any.

"Yup, like always," Takao answered instantly. "You ready Ikimaru?" he asked.

Ikimaru looked up from his own notes and nodded slightly with a small smile. Ikimaru was something of an oddity in their little group, and was the latest to ever join. That didn't mean that they did not trust him as much as Yuri and Takao did, but it just meant that they tried twice the amount of effort to get him to open up to them since he was so shy. Even then, Ikimaru had joined their group in primary school as well, so there were almost no secrets between all of them.

That was the reason why Ikimaru was friends with Takao and Yuri now. They had once been assigned together on a project, and after that they were able to make a great presentation and project. Both Yuri and Takao saw how well they worked together, and they knew that Ikimaru wasn't able to bond with other peers around him as easily due to his shyness. It was only more of an incentive to get him to interact with them more, and after all this time, Ikimaru still hadn't truly gotten rid of his lack of speech, but he definitely spoke a lot more than he used to when they first met, and that was good enough for Takao. Yuri still had complaints since he was the loudest and the most talkative of the group, but really that was just because he still wanted Ikimaru to be able to speak fluently with everyone around him, not just his friends. In the end, it was just out of a sense of care.

On the subject of being shy, neither Takao nor Yuri was shy at all. Yuri was bordering on outgoing and Takao was still pretty open with everyone. Yuri loved to talk and speak to everyone about his experiences and was so open that it was nearing the border of being way too open that it was actually dangerous how much people knew about Yuri. Well, it could've been anyways.

No-one would do anything to him since he was so friendly anyways.

Takao was not as open as Yuri and he kept to himself a little bit more, but he talked at least enough to be able to function properly in society.

…he talked at least enough to be adequate and that was fine with everyone that he knew.

And this left Ikimaru to be able to improve his interactions with everyone and to gain more experiences in social situations.

…Which there was a lot of, so he needed that experience more now.

"Alright then. Let's just add what we don't have to each other's notes and cover everything. We have some studying to do with that test of our coming up," Takao smiled as he drew a pen from his bag and wrote some extra notes onto Yuri's. Yuri's did the same for Ikimaru and Ikimaru the same for Takao.

Takao scanned Yuri's notes quickly before scribbling some pieces of information at the end of the list of the notes in the subjects. There was something to be said about Yuri. Even though Yuri was louder than any of them, he was still fairly organized. Mostly on Takao's urging, and it definitely gave him a breath of fresh air whenever Yuri missed something.

Takao could almost shudder at just how much messier Yuri's work was before, since they were mostly scribbles on every inch of the page, covering it effectively like a pall and being about as organised as a pile of dirt. Which was not organized at all. They were almost like torture and nightmares then.

By middle school, Yuri was able to take his notes fluently and without missing too much.

Takao passed Yuri's notes to Ikimaru and received Ikimaru's notes from Yuri. It was basically a round robin of adding notes that was effective so that they wouldn't miss that much between the three of them.

Ikimaru's notes were smaller, yet detailed, but the thing is… they were kinda hard to read since the characters were so small. Takao could grant that his writing was very neat, however it wouldn't really help if his writing was so small that you had to be an ant to see what Ikimaru had written. However, it had been getting better so it wasn't as bad for Takao and Yuri anymore. Between Yuri and Ikimaru, definitely the most balanced of the three was Takao. His notes were of the neat, organized and succinct type and the characters were of a moderate size.

After reading through Ikimaru's notes, Takao added only one or two lines to the end of them all, and after they had returned each other's notes, Yuri commented, "Hehe, Takao, never missing a beat. I only had to add a few things to yours again."

Takao chuckled before replying, "Hey, I just pay attention more in class. I don't look out the window as much as you do Yuri." Yuri put on a mock hurt expression before grinning.

"I know, I really should stop doing that… but you know how it is, classes can be boring sometimes and what better way to spend the rest of your time than by looking out the window?" Yuri grinned as he slapped Takao on the back.

Takao smiled at that before replying, "I know, I still look out the window every once in a while. With it just to my side I have to wonder how ANYONE can resist looking out of it. What about you Ikimaru?"

Ikimaru said quietly, "I have to admit that I do that sometimes…" Ikimaru smiled slightly and continued with, "But I think Yuri looks out the window the most out of all of us."

Yuri almost looked offended by Ikimaru's statement and he called indignantly, "Hey!" he yelled. "…though it's kinda true…" he said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Haha, don't worry about it. You're still going strong with school, so what's a tiny bit of time to get yourself back in focus during class?" Takao smiled.

Yuri appeared to be deliberating Takao's point for a moment before he nodded vigorously. "You know what? You're right! I only spend a minute or two looking out, it can't be that bad!"

"Just so long as it's not all in one go. People would start noticing at that point…" Ikimaru chuckled.

Everyone at that point burst out in laughter. Everyone knew that it was true, and getting caught by any teacher or student at that moment would be pretty disastrous for any of them. Neither of them was planning to get themselves in trouble that way by any really strict teachers.

By the end of the school day and the turn that he had for cleaning the classroom was completed, he was walking back to his home fulfilled with the knowledge and fun that he had on that school day. All things to be gained from learning at school.

"I'm home," Takao called as he left his shoes at the door and put on his slippers.

"Oh, welcome back Takao-kun," Mikuru smiled. "I'm making some soba noodles and teriyaki this time."

Takao's mind was set to making his mouth water as he thought about the food. His mum had to be the best cook just… ever. That and soba and teriyaki were awesome dishes in general. "Alright kaa-san, just call me when it's ready like usual," he smiled before running to his room at the top of the stairs.

Mikuru laughed softly before going back to work. She still couldn't fathom how hardworking Takao was. Even when he got home he was ready to do some homework. And he still had to deal with Yui later… "That boy…" she smiled.

Once Takao was at his desk he immediately took out his notes from today, seeing that there only a few sentences added to them. But still, anything that was added was useful. There were a few more notes from Ikimaru than there were Yuri's, but Ikimaru always had things to add whenever it came to homework and notes. That's why they did that round robin process; to make sure they could cover as much as possible. In Takao's mind, he knew that it really was a useful way to cover everything.

Just as Takao finished his first page of homework, he heard three little knocks on his door. He didn't listen to music through his headphones as much anymore because of a certain someone… So instead he just played some music through his laptop so there would be some music to listen to while he worked. He always liked listening to music; in fact it was one of his favourite past times. When the world was falling apart, he would be listening to music while running in fear from the destruction.

"You can come in Yui-chan," he called before the doorknob squeaked slowly and the door creaked a little as it opened.

"Taka, dinner's ready! Also, you gotta play with me a bit later, okay?" she smiled happily as Takao nodded. He would always have some time to play with little Yui-chan. In his mind, no-one could ever resist his little sister's earnest requests.

"Of course," he laughed before coming down with Yui to the table.

"Yay!" she cheered as she ran down.

Takao made his way down after her, albeit at a much slower pace than his energetic sister.

When Takao reached the dinner table, he sat down and waited for everyone else to do the same. His father, Tanaka had also come home during the time that Takao was doing his homework and it appeared that he seemed not to have the best of days at work.

"You okay tou-san?" Takao asked with a concerned tone and expression.

Tanaka looked up with a tired expression before saying, "I'm alright. However, I do admit there was a lot more to do at work today…"

Takao smiled sympathetically before going on to say, "Well, you got through it right?" He was actually grinning at this point.

Tanaka nodded and replied, "Of course I did. Who do you think I am?" Tanaka boomed proudly.

"Hi-five," Takao insisted as Yui giggled at her dad's antics. Tanaka nodded and did just that, the resounding 'clap' ringing out. Takao and Tanaka knew a good trick for creating the perfect hi-fives. All you had to do… was look at the other person's elbow while you made your hi-five. Worked every time.

"Ah! You hit hard as usual!" Takao laughed as he tried to ignore the stinging sensation in his palm.

"But of course! How else should you hit a hi-five? Hitting harder makes the best sounds!" Tanaka grinned and nodded at the same time.

"But tou-san! What if you hi-fived someone and the other person's hand fell off because you hit too hard?" Yui asked innocently.

Takao chuckled nervously at that. When did she learn about something like that? "That won't happen, Yui-chan," he laughed a little, patting her on her head and ruffling her hair.

"I hope you're not lying…" Yui said with a pout and a sing-song voice. "Yay! Kaa-san's done!"

Takao looked up, his nose immediately meeting the wonderful scent of teriyaki and soba noodles. His kaa-san's cooking always smelled good. "Awesome!" Takao cheered.

After the food was laid on the table by Mikuru, she sat down as well and gave Tanaka a kiss on the cheek before grabbing the food in the middle and spreading out a portion for both Yui and her. Tanaka smiled a little before he too picked up his own share and laid it on his plate. Takao did the same last.

"Itadakimasu!" everyone said as they picked up their chopsticks and they started eating.

Yui seemed to still have a hard time trying to use her chopsticks properly, even if she was getting the hang of it already. "Do you need help Yui-chan?" Takao asked with a smile as he swallowed a bite.

Yui looked up with a pout as she dropped a small amount onto her plate again. "Um… yeah… can you help me please?" she asked with a pleading tone, even if her expression said that she didn't really want too much help with her chopsticks.

"Of course," Takao answered instantly as he began demonstrating and showing Yui where to put her fingers on the pair of sticks. Mikuru and Tanaka smiled slightly. It was something of a common occurrence with Takao reliably helping Yui with trying to use her chopsticks.

"Ohhh. I think I can do it now nii-san!" Yui said with a determined voice as Takao finished teaching her once again.

Takao nodded at that and watched as Yui successfully got a bite in her mouth. "Yay! I did it!" she cheered as she grabbed another bite of the fried noodles.

Takao chuckled slightly before returning to his meal. It was always fun seeing everyone around him so happy. Especially with the looks of approval that his parents were giving him, he knew that his parents recognised his efforts to teach Yui as always and keep up with everything.

"Goshisousama," Tanaka said after a while, putting his dishes in the sink and going off to do some more work that he needed to.

Not long after, Yui and Takao had finished their meals as well and they had been deciding what they should play together. One game, one play.

"So… whatcha wanna play Yui?" Takao asked with a curious expression. Whenever they played it was almost always by Yui's choice that they would play that particular game.

"Hm… Ooh, I remember getting something from my friend today! Maybe we can play that!" Yui cheered as she scrambled up the stairs, obviously eager to play that game, whatever it was.

As Takao was wondering what Yui was talking about, she slid down the stairs quickly and landed right next to the last step safely.

"Yui-chan, are you okay?" he asked as he approached her. Whatever she did, it looked not only dangerous but also potentially painful.

Yui looked up quickly and straight into Takao's eyes before giving him a V-sign. "I'm okay nii-san!" she smiled as she brushed down her clothes and stood up soundly with a small box in her hands.

"If you say so Yui-chan, but maybe next time you should just go down the stairs normally. Doing it like that is dangerous," Takao scolded with a concerned expression.

"Aww, but nii-san, doing that's really fun!" Yui pouted.

"It wouldn't be very fun getting hurt while you go down the stairs, would it?" Takao retorted.

Yui fell silent for a little while before begrudgingly nodding. "Oh… but only because you asked me nii-san!" she yelled.

Takao nodded in relief before he returned to the living room with Yui, the little game that she had on hand. To Takao, what she had in her hands looked something like a pack of cards or something similar.

"So, what are we going to play?" he asked?

"I wanna play snap!" she said excitedly as she carefully removed the deck from the box, the overall set intact.

"Alright then," Takao chuckled. He wasn't any good at reaction games; he was better with things that involved a lot more thinking. This kind of match up meant that he lost to Yui a lot more than someone would imagine a sixteen year losing to a six year old normally. However, he would never refuse a game from Yui so on they played.

"Yay!" Yui giggled as she tried to divide the cards into two almost equal parts. However, it was clear from her struggling that it wasn't going to be that easy for her.

"Need help Yui-chan?" Takao asked with a small smile. Yui looked up with a pout as always before handing over the cards to him.

"Cutting decks is hard! The cards are almost really big!" Yui sighed as Takao handed back to her a half of the deck. He kept the other, and laid it out in his hand so that he couldn't see the back. Yui did the same, albeit with a little more difficulty than there could have been.

"Who'll start first Taka?" Yui asked as she laid a fervent hand on the top of the half deck that she had.

"Whoever," he shrugged. He never really minded who went first when they were playing a game and trying to decide on their roles in a game. It didn't matter as much as it could have, that was for sure. Yet it was a process that always seemed to take a bit longer than it needed to.

Yui contemplated the decision. Last time, Taka won because he went first. At least, that was what came to mind first. It most certainly wasn't Takao's idea to win just by going first. After all, the game was a luck based game all by chance, instead of a strategically based game unlike chess, checkers or even Risk. Even Risk had more of a strategic base than that little dice game that he played with her.

"I'll go first this time Taka-nii!" Yui said with a determined voice.

"Alright then Yui," he chuckled as Yui laid down the first card.

Takao.

Yui.

Takao.

Yu—

"Snap!"

Yui smiled as she picked up the pile of cards that was laid down from before and added it into her deck, shuffling it. This was surely going to be a long game…

By the end of it all, Takao had finally lost to Yui, and it was needless to say that it was one hectic game that they had gotten themselves caught in, even if they only played one round, since Takao still had some homework to do and some notes to sort out.

Once everything had been sorted out, he took to his bed after taking a short shower and fell asleep. His dreams were peaceful as they had ever been. It had been a very long while ago that he had a nightmare, and even then, it was something that he realized was pretty trivial in nature and wasn't scary at all. Looking back on that nightmare, he had to wonder how he could ever be scared by something like that.

Once morning came, the sunlight seeped through the slight cracks in the blinds and by that, he was roused from sleep. Five minutes before the time his alarm was set for in fact. Groggily shuffling himself out of bed and setting his alarm off again, he washed the sleep that lingered in his expression with some cold water away and changed into his uniform for the day before grabbing some toast from the table.

Mikuru was up early again as usual.

Unusually for Takao, he was the kind of person that actually woke up early on a school day, despite it starting some of an hour later instead of fifteen minutes like some other people did. Honestly, taking himself slowly in the morning was something that he would've rather done instead of getting stressed and cursing the morning for how hectic it was.

Especially since it was those people's faults for falling back asleep a few seconds later and realizing that they really should be getting up because school's up in about five minutes instead of fifteen.

Takao ate his buttered toast relatively slowly and drank his fruit juice liberally throughout. No point in eating too fast when you have plenty of time to get ready for the day. Besides, all his homework was done, so he actually had some free time.

Tanaka and Mikuru came to join Takao at the table a few moments later after he had started digging into his toast, with coffee and jasmine tea respectively. Everything was relatively quiet until…

"Taka-nii," Yui called as she hopped down the stairs quickly and bounced to the table. "Good morning!" she chirped cheerily. "Good morning kaa-san, tou-san!" Yui said next.

"Morning Yui-chan," Takao smiled.

"Good morning Yui-chan," Mikuru gave the same smile as Takao, yet hers was a little gentler than Takao's happier one.

"Good morning Yui!" Tanaka replied last with a hearty tone. Clearly coffee was starting to work its magic and he was starting not to be as sleepy as he usually was. With all the work he had, it was a wonder that he wasn't getting as tired from it as he could have been; it was pretty remarkable.

Once Takao had left his dishes in the sink, he went back upstairs to brush his teeth, and once he looked out the window, he found that Ikimaru and Yuri were right outside his house. Perfect timing!

He waved through his window back at them before racing downstairs with his backpack to join his friends. "See ya later! Have a good day!" Takao said hastily as he rushed through the doors and gates and finally caught up with his friends.

"Yo Takao," Yuri grinned.

"Hello," Ikimaru smiled a little at Takao.

"Hey guys," he replied.

"So, did ya get around to doing all your homework Takao?" Yuri asked, even though his grin pretty much said that he knew the answer as always. He had known Takao long enough to know that he would try to do his homework as quickly as possible so that he would have more free time with his family, especially Yui.

"Yeah, what about you?" Takao asked.

Yuri chuckled, "Well, I finished almost everything, but I still have the tiniest little bit that I need to get done…" Ah, as always. Takao knew that Yuri usually didn't get around to completing all of his homework, and there would always be a tiny bit of it left that he would do before classes officially started. Yuri was an only child so he had more time to himself to play video games and do things of that nature.

"Oh okay… what about you Ikimaru?" he asked.

"Um, I did everything I was supposed to this time as well…" Ikimaru said quietly.

"Come on, remember to speak up. You're lucky we're used to you being so quiet," Yuri whined a little.

"Oh, I know that…" Ikimaru said with a more embarrassed tone. He cleared his throat before saying, "I did everything I was supposed to, and I even got some time to play some Shin Megami Tensei while I was at it."

"Wow, you work fast as usual," Yuri grinned. "Also, SMT? How're you going with it?"

"I've been getting farther, steadily…" Ikimaru said, though his strong tone from before was starting to drop off again. That earned him a raised eyebrow from both of his friends before he got the message and finished his statement with, "…but it's still as difficult as ever."

"SMT's always difficult. I can't name one that is just plain easy," Yuri sighed. "They're still fun as ever though, so I can't complain too much I guess."

"Yeah, I've only completed a few of the older games so far…" Takao agreed. He didn't get too much free time, but when he did, he too spent it playing video games. After all, with all the games around here even he, as hardworking as he was, got sucked into the gaming crowd.

"Yeah…" Yuri sighed.

The rest of the walk was spent talking about various video games, and about the next time that they should come over to someone's house so they could all play some games together.

"What do you think we should play when we come over to Yuri's?" Ikimaru asked as they started speeding up their pace. Mostly because they all wanted to get to school early in order to do something about Yuri's homework. Regardless of any homework though, they usually got to school early just because they could, and they wouldn't kick them out for coming to their very own school early. That would just be stupid.

"Um… I'm leaning more towards Super Smash Brothers Brawl," Takao said with a sheepish voice and expression to match. Ikimaru nodded and Yuri nodded as well. Great choice as always.

"Alrighty then, we're gonna be playing matches like no tomorrow!" Yuri cheered as they ran through the gates. If the time ever came that Yuri's recorded math numbers actually broke one of those damned achievement boxes that said you had to play something like a thousand matches he would be pretty happy. If they could unlock some other achievements, that would be awesome too.

"Hell yeah!" Takao grinned as they went through the school doors, dropped off their shoes and quickly put on their slippers.

"I couldn't agree more," Ikimaru smiled as they made their first steps up the stairs to their classrooms.

They were all sixteen, so they headed towards the second floor without even batting an eye at the stairs that led up to the third floor. If there was any reason that they would be going up those stairs, it would become apparent much later when they actually needed to go to the roof. They were all in the same homeroom, so for most of their classes they were pretty much together for the whole thing.

Takao, Yuri and Ikimaru took their places at the side of the classroom that had windows, their seats and tables fairly warm from the pouring sunlight that came through the window glass.

After dropping off their bags at their respective tables, they began talking about their plans for next week with almost no care or abandon.

Yu Narukami had been travelling around the country to get away from the carnage that seemed to be plaguing Japan. The carnage was the work of only one man, and that was probably the most terrifying thing about these occurrences. This man had already destroyed the town of Inaba, Okina city and Iwatodai.

Yu breathed out a silent sigh as he thought about his friends. Almost all of them, besides one, they were all dead…

Most of his friends, Yosuke, Kanji, Yukiko, Chie and Teddie all lived in Inaba. Nanako and Ryotaro Dojima all lived there as well. It was almost a given that all of them would be dead, since they were living in that same city. In the end, Yu was truly worried for them. With everything going on, there wasn't even time for a funeral or anything like that. The destruction left in this man's wake was truly frightening, and what was even more frightening, was that no-one actually knew his identity. It was a mystery to everyone.

The Red Seeker.

The Red Seeker was what the terrorist had been dubbed because of the red hoodie that he donned. He not only had that, but he had black pants and combat boots to go along with it, and a white mask on top of his face so that you couldn't see his face.

With that mask of his on top, covering his face, no-one would ever see his true identity or even see any twinge of expression on that man's face. His façade was that of a blank face, with a slightly upturned smile. While on its own, that mask on his face was not scary, and was more akin to that of a drama mask or something of the sort, if anyone was able to see that eerie upturned smile marked on the mask right as he was destroying something, it would almost seem like he was taking some kind of sick pleasure in destroying all of it and making that carnage.

Now that was horrifying.

The one person that wasn't in Inaba at the time was in Iwatodai. However unluckily for her, that was one of Red Seeker's next targets, and Rise was killed during that attack as well.

The only one left now was Naoto. She was out of that area entirely and she had been able to avoid the attacks so far. She was out of the largest island entirely to work on another case and it was no wonder that she was able to avoid getting in harm's way, via Red Seeker.

"I truly wonder who is under that twisted mask…" Naoto muttered. She was a detective, and right now the greatest concern was of catching that damned terrorist and bringing him to justice; not only because of her other deceased friends, but because she wanted that trailblazing road of destruction to stop in its tracks. No-one could ever deserve to have their families ripped apart by that wretch of a man, no. A human being.

That monster.

Not only were her friends gone because of the attack on Inaba, but her grandfather was also gone. That same sweet old grandfather who helped to put her on the path to become a detective; he was gone as well too, without a trace, his presence covered up under just the general destruction of the town in which she had spent a year bonding and making new friends.

All that was left of her friends was Yu Narukami. Him, and only him. It might have been selfish on her part, but she would've rather had all of her friends alive with her right now and Kanji especially, and have Yu with her as well. She might've been a particularly strong woman now that she had been able to establish for herself a strong, stable career as a detective, however she was not without her own faults or weaknesses. She loved and needed her friends and family, but then they were taken away in a flash. No kind of person except for the killer would be able to take them away without feeling any remorse.

So, while she was trying to figure out the route of the Red Seeker, she had joined with Yu once more not only so that they could solve the case of the Red Seeker together, but to also spend time with the last semblance of friendship that she had left.

"I have no idea, Naoto…" Yu replied simply. He was surely filled with wonder about the identity of the Red Seeker, but first and foremost, he had to be caught. That was all there was to it. No trail of carnage should be able to take away his friends like this, and now Naoto was the only one left. No Yosuke, no Yukiko, no Chie, no Kanji, no Rise and no Teddie either.

Aside from Naoto he was alone. He needed to put a stop to his ways and bring him to justice. With Naoto, it would be possible to try and catch him in the act and turn him in.

The hotel that Yu and Naoto had chosen to stay at for the time being was as normal as any, and it wasn't long before Yu went to sleep and Naoto tried to look for any reasons or patterns that Red Seeker might've tried to take out Inaba, Okina and Iwatodai.

However, when Yu tried, all that was on his mind was the destruction of Iwatodai. He sighed. He didn't imagine that it would hit him and Naoto so hard with the Red Seeker and everything else that was going on. After all, all his friends and the people he considered family were almost all gone. All that was left of his friends were Naoto and his parents. Though, his parents weren't even in the same country as the Red Seeker, so how would they know and why would they care?

Up until now, he hadn't heard from his friends for particularly long periods of time. Even if he was busy with university and they were probably still trying to get their lives back in order and consider jobs and all of that stuff, it couldn't possibly kill them just to try and contact him every once in a while. If they did, he would've heard about Red Seeker faster and tried to help them if he could in a heartbeat. But as it was, they didn't, and now they were all gone, even Nanako-chan and Dojima.

Once he had managed to actually squeeze his eyes shut and let the darkness engulf his vision, a few moments later, a terrifying presence made manifest in Yu's mind, shaking his very soul down to his very core. He had encountered this thing before, and within a few moments he couldn't feel anything other than complete anger and frustration.

Whatever this thing was, it was laughing. Laughing, ever so mockingly. Yes, mockingly. The reason was yet to be seen but that was soon addressed to with, "I almost cannot believe that he's able to fall under my influence so quickly! It's no wonder that a person who has power such as he would not only be able to use his powers for good, but he could also use them to do evil; my very own bidding." A flap of its wings and it spoke once more.

"Yes… he will be the most powerful and the greatest pawn in my game… I can assure you, that this time, my victory is nigh…" the presence laughed almost maniacally before he released Yu from the darkness' grip. "There is no escape from the chaos that will engulf the human world… none at all."

"Not precious Wild Card of yours will be able to stop this onslaught… old friend," the presence sneered before it disappeared.

That night, Yu had dreams of one thing that kept replaying over and over in his mind. That night, he had dreams of his friends all together, however there was one person missing from the picture when everything was said and done, the moment framed.

That person who was missing; it made him angry that the person wasn't there. He didn't need to be left out of their lives, and that person wanted to be part of everything that went on. That's what friends were supposed to do, right? Stay by their sides? Keep everyone else together?

Yu woke up as tired as he was the night before. Lately, the nightmares h2e kept having were getting worse and the headaches that occurred after were no better. He begrudgingly washed his face, trying to get it clean of the irritation that had settled during sleep.

"Yu, are you alright?" Naoto asked with a concerned tone as she tied her longer hair up in a ponytail and put her hat on. After the time that she had spent with her friends, although it took a while, she finally got around to growing her hair out after all, and it was needless to say that it made her look all the more attractive with it.

"Yeah… just had a bad dream…" he muttered as he wiped his face dry.

"You want to talk about it?" she asked.

"Not really…" he sighed. "Besides, it was probably nothing. I can't remember the nightmares that I have very well…" And it was true. Yu really wasn't able to remember about a scary half of his dream. It felt to him like someone was talking to him or just something that he didn't know about, and after that, the actual dream started.

It was unnerving to be sure, because whenever he experienced that same dream for several nights now, he felt so… so angry. He felt so filled with rage, but nothing that he could remember the cause of anymore. He had a hunch about what it was, but the kinds of thoughts that invaded his mind when he thought about them would turn out more than just blank. Whatever this thing was that was speaking, it was a dark force to be sure; something that gave even him of all people the shivers.

"Hm… well, be sure to tell me if you do remember. I can't have an old friend feeling down on himself, can I?" Naoto smiled slightly as she patted him on the back reassuringly.

Yu nodded and smiled back a little before standing. "Well, I need to get something to eat. You know how hotel food's really expensive and all that…" Yu laughed a little as he put his jacket on.

"I can agree with that. In my experience, most hotel foods are overpriced for a small portion of food that could be about half the price in another place," Naoto sighed as she put her signature blue hat on.

Yu nodded in agreement before they headed out of the hotel in search of a place to grab some breakfast.

As Naoto and Yu walked together across the streets, he couldn't help but feel another fuelling of anger once more in his soul. It was fury of the soul quaking kind. The kind that when you clenched your fists, they would not only turn bone white, but they would also start bleeding from your nails digging in to the palm of your hand. The kind where you wanted to take that fury out on a building wall, maybe destroy something and pulverise it into little fine bits.

However, Yu was not that kind of person. He was the kind of person that would keep that fury boiling and seething dangerously underneath his skin like lava below a layer of solidified rock that formed a volcano. And when he couldn't take the pressure anymore, he would explode in the most magnificent of ways, and perhaps… in the most terrifying of them.

There was never a time when he was angry enough to try and destroy anything but the one time that he could ever remember recently was when Nanako almost died. He had wanted to blame Taro Namatame for everything that had happened, including Nanako's death.

However… he managed to keep himself under control that time with urging and encouragement from his friends.

This time, he couldn't even remember why he was so angry, and that was also something potentially dangerous. He wouldn't know when he would snap or if he would stay calm for the rest of the month without punching something into oblivion.

While he spent time eating his breakfast, he desperately tried to claw at the reason and truth that was behind his constant fury and turmoil. To no avail. By some unknown force, he just could not figure out the reason for his nightmares or the strange voices, let alone why he was just so damned angry.

This kind of pursuit of knowledge was starting to tick him off even more than he could ever imagine. Some kind of festering, rotting thought that was buried at the back of his mind ever since Naoto had joined with him had been floating at the surface of the water that was his memory; it was being brought even further into light as he thought about it, and perhaps… that was the reason he was getting so angry.

He couldn't believe it no matter how much he had tried to dig that unwholesome thought from his mind's waters. It scared him. That thought that was scraping the near frozen surface of his mind, it was frightening. Nothing was making sense. That truth and the power that he had built himself on…

Yu was starting to think that the truth and power he had was fake.

The truth that had led him through countless trials with his friends was something that he almost began to think was fake.

It was frightening.

Almost nothing had ever frightened Yu before, and the things that did were short-lived fears as a result of his friends' support. Every time, through when a friend of his was endangered, through when his friends came close to death, and through when Nanako was kidnapped, and she came so close to the waters of death, the friends and support he had would be there to comfort him and let him keep going with his endeavours with utmost perseverance.

That was why, before he was almost never frightened or scared of anything. Because of his friends.

And perhaps he would have confided in Naoto about it, but as far as he knew, he still couldn't remember that dream of his, that voice and the overall thought that was starting to creep in his mind.

Yes, this one time he would stay his hand and he wouldn't tell Naoto.

"Hm… today's a nice day…" Naoto commented absent-mindedly.

"Yeah… It is," Yu smiled as he looked out the window to the sunlit streets.

As he looked on in the streets, another greatly disturbing thought was starting to sneak into his mind.

The city looks so pretty…

Pretty as the sunlight bounced off of the buildings almost like a kid that didn't know where to play, but then decided that it would play in every nook and cranny that it could find a bit later with time. The steady hum of the cars as they sped by and the cleaner air that was expelled was something as beautiful as could be, considering that before the smoke that filtered through the exhaust pipe at the back of the car was a sickening shade of grey. The silver-lined buildings that towered about the city were strikingly bright, much like a beacon that could be found at a lighthouse. It was that bright, and it was something that Yu liked. The people that walked the streets were as lively as ever, going about their daily business with staunch determination, and always looked to be extremely happy when they walked.

Nothing would go wrong.

…that thought was what Yu kept entertaining. They looked so carefree, it was almost criminal.

"…Until the skies bleed ashes, and the fucking skyline crashes," Red Seeker muttered.

He of all people was laughing. The destruction was crowding around him like he was the king of everything that was ever in that city. That power that he had, the one he wielded… It was almost like dope when he used it. He kept using it and with it he made the skies bleed a ghostly shade of red. If the sky was a living being, then the Red Seeker made it his job and his absolute sickening pleasure to make that part of the sky howl in pain with explosions, scorching winds and shrapnel to rip through the flesh of it.

When he was done with that, no doubt would the city that sat under that sky be in complete collapse, maybe only a few people straggling as he left that once breathing and thriving city in utter ruins like that of a mutilated corpse.

And when he looked over the masterpiece he had created with his powers, he could help but let a twisted smile crawl onto his face. That once choking feeling that had engulfed his soul and mind was now broken into shards. It was much like a mirror, the kind that if you laid your eyes upon would make you cringe and recoil in terror. You would shed a small tear because of the man that you would've seen in the shattered glass. That once kind man.

That man was no longer in control, and all that was left was a barely controlled husk filled with the fuel of anger, made from ignorance and those fucks that he once called family. He cared for them no longer, and if he was to be subjected to the unhappiness that had once settled at the back of his mind for years to come, then no-one deserved happiness. They would all die by his hands. The hands of the Red Seeker.

He could barely see through all the ash and smoke that rose into the air, but he didn't care. He could still see, something through the screen of thick dust. The Red Seeker could find within that clouded vision many things such as; his undoubtable victory, the unseen rubble and roads, the mangled corpses of people that had once filled the streets, undeniable proof of the loss of the city and… fire. Fire to fill the streets, eat the oxygen out of the air like ravenous beasts, and fire to scar the land with spreading embers on the wind.

Fire was destruction in its purest form. In that warmth, there was a dark side, a twisted hold on the flames at the back of the core of its very being; the desire to spread. The desire to, much like an infectious disease or bacteria, to travel and live its days out. And it, like a satisfied beast would feast upon the remains of its prey; the land.

The Red Seeker absolutely relished having fire as his very own pet. It was something that would follow him wherever he went like a faithful mutt, and something that would feed upon what it was given like a cat given a bowl of milk. It was something that loved playing with its food, the human flesh that it too consumed over time, much like a tarantula given a luscious and most delectable treat.

And when he commanded it, it would die much like a bird given poison.

But of course, he could always get another helping of the ravenous force that was fire. It was easy to use, and criminally dispensable. If Red Seeker didn't have friends before, he would've said that fire of all things, was his best friend. It was loyal, and oh so reliable.

Yes, fire was his best friend, his very own slave, a pet.

A means to a grisly end. An end where the skies were painted a permanent shade of blood red, the land cried in futility for any kind of nourishment, and the monoliths that filled the world were absolutely ravaged.

That was indeed the end that he so craved, and the only end that he would ever wish for. An end filled with destruction.

Red Seeker chuckled as he looked over the burned and bloody bodies of his victims. This once pure soul could never fathom how laughably easy it was to take a life. That kid over there burned even easier because of the alcohol he worked near. Needless to say that he was one of the first to go.

The actual first was actually a little girl that he had once known very well. He almost liked her, but at this point, any reconciliation was pointless with his tough as nails resolve, especially with the consequences of the actions that he had taken. Her father was killed as well. That man was the next to die. It was unfortunate, but he wasn't going to leave him alive after finding out that his daughter was killed and was actually one of the most peacefully killed out of all the victims that he had encountered. Red Seeker did have a small soft spot for her, even if it was small. Especially with how innocent she was compared to any other girl that he had known.

That man too was killed in a relatively peaceful fashion, a simple stab in the heart and he was gone as well.

They were the first two that Red Seeker had killed, and he had then resolved that he would try not to take too much pleasure in killing everyone in the town. How strong that resolve was yet another frightening question. Even Red Seeker didn't know how long it would be before that resolve snapped, but for that first town he had definitely kept it up.

By now, it was cracking; that finely crafted mask that he had donned to cover his expression, emotions and motivations was indeed weakening after so much pressure thrown onto such a resolve.

That other kid that he once knew, the one he used to hang with that was now a teen, he too was dead. And with him, his dreams. In fact, several people's dreams were mercilessly crushed under the Red Seeker's influence. They were shattered completely with his appearance, the motivations that each and every person had; annihilated utterly and entirely.

That mother he saw with that growing kid of hers, she was dead too, and so was that brat. He could only imagine how her husband was feeling. Now that would be a laugh. Come back to Inaba, find out that his wife and kid were dead? That would almost be hilarious. Almost. Still as morbid as ever.

Perhaps one of the biggest attractions within the sleepy town of Inaba, the Junes mall, was the next place that Red Seeker destroyed after going through the streets and just trashing everything in his way with a simple explosion triggered by a mere snap of his fingers.

With that much ease wielding so much power… it was no wonder that he was starting to enjoy it thoroughly. There was no greater pleasure than seeing anything and everything be blown to bits and be crushed into rising ashes by his very hand. So easily too.

"Let's watch the city burn, from the skylines on top of the world… til there's nothing left to burn… let's watch this city burn the world…" Red Seeker sung softly, almost hauntingly. He sang so softly that song with so much inner glee and so much suppressed tone, it was almost eerie. One could only hope that they would be safe from his wrath for long than some others, as selfish as it sounded.

Hiroto sat back in his chair and looked over the freshly watered garden. The day was still young, yet the sun was shining brightly as it ever did in the afternoon. Hiroto knew that the sunlight that filtered through the cherry blossoms was still warm and boisterous even in the morning, and it would stay like that for a while until nightfall. Even then, the evenings around where he lived were still lukewarm, if a little bit nippy because of the several travelling winds. This is how it felt in a normal spring day and night.

In summer, the warmer temperatures were further emphasised, and these were definitely the days that people chose to go out to places such as the beach or to a river where the water would carry off their sweat and worries. You see, the summer days where Hiroto lived weren't the extremely hot kind where everything would dry up and it literally felt like your skin was being cooked right as it lay on your body. Thankfully. However, in return, their days were a bit muggier, and were more akin to a wet season in a tropical island than anything else, even if he sun was still not quite as forgiving as it was in spring and autumn.

Speaking of autumn, autumn days tended to be much cooler than their spring counterparts, with a more nip and bite to the normally soothing winds that defined spring. However, that did not make autumn any less beautiful. Not at all. In fact, Hiroto was more split and on the fence about whether he liked autumn or spring more. Autumn was filled with more vibrant colours such as the ochre-like reds, oranges and golden yellow, and they certainly filled the space in the form of a soft and damp carpet of matted leaves. Where there were trees, large piles of leaves much like pillows formed underneath them, and if they weren't so tightly packed and were looser, they were perfect for jumping into, if only to annoy the cleaners.

Hiroto chuckled. He remembered when he used to do that with his dear wife who had passed away a few years ago. Hiroto remembered those moments with his wife just like they were yesterday. He knew they were much renowned for the messes they made when they leapt into the heaps.

Lastly, there was winter. Whenever the days turned cooler in the coldest season, sometimes snow and frost would appear around the house in small amounts. While these days were icy cold now, and they did not do many wonders for any of his wizened joints (not that they did before) he still quite liked them. Winter was a season he liked more than summer, strangely enough. He remembered this season more, and was more accustomed to the temperature. In summer, sometimes wearing loose clothing wouldn't be enough to get rid of the heat and sweat. In winter, all you had to do was pile on more warm clothing and you would be good to go for the rest of the day. If you wanted to feel cooler after accumulating more heat, you just had to peel the extra layers off to retain a better amount of heat.

But for now… it was spring, and the cherry blossoms' petals blew in the wind and carpeted the ground in a fine and very soft layer. His grandchildren, Yumi and Rei, were both playing together in the garden.

And as always, his daughter and son-in-law, Yuki and Kiba respectively, were doing a wonderful job of taking care of themselves, not to mention their children. Yumi and Rei was a lively bunch, and they were always up early to play some games in the garden. Hiroto's garden was filled with places where they could play, even though they were more intended to be decoration than anything else.

The slabs of stone that appeared out of the water and were used as stepping stones were things that the two used for hopping on and jumping, and the wide open spaces of the garden allowed for them to play games of tag easily. There was a very good reason among others, that Yumi and Rei liked coming to Hiroto's home during spring and summer. They loved that they were able to play in his garden like there was no tomorrow and use the decorations of the garden as they wished.

One of their favourite places was by the rock garden, where they would relax when they had enough of playing or were tired. This was because, whether it was a coincidence to them or not, the rocks that were just perfect for sitting and laying under were covered over by trees, and were matted with soft moss.

Like they had said, it was truly perfect for relaxing in.

In fact, Hiroto had moved them long ago for that purpose. Even he had to agree that it was a great place for relaxing. When the kids weren't playing and weren't visiting him, he liked to set up a hammock between two trees that naturally covered it over to make it cool, even with the dappled sunlight seeping through the spaces that the leaves couldn't cover.

He didn't set up the hammock when Yumi and Rei were around, as they liked using the same area for another kind of game.

And when they were playing that game, they would need all the space that they could get to run. It was a game related to tag, however there was more of a hiding element, and an element of surprise. This was because one of the trees around the garden, the base, was something to be covered; otherwise the person who was hiding could get to home base.

Put it shortly, the game was forty four homes.

And that was why they needed space to run.

As for Yuki and Kiba, they were a very sweet couple. Yuki was very gentle and graceful, while Kiba was more aggressive and boisterous. They say that opposites attract, and in this case it was true. Yuki and Kiba were almost complete opposites. Because of that, they did disagree every once in a while, but Yuki was smarter, while Kiba had the force to go through with any important decisions.

Yuki won arguments almost all of the time. There were very few arguments that she lost in fact. Perhaps it was just because of Kiba's more hot-headed nature that he didn't think what he said through enough, but Yuki was always able to diffuse the situation quickly and efficiently. Heck, Yuki was efficient in just about everything that she did. Hiroto himself thought that Yuki got that trait from his wife. She too was just like Yuki, and the same daughter of his was as to the point and efficient as her.

Kiba was something of an odd case. Hiroto was quite surprised at Kiba's fiery attitude, almost to contrast Yuki's cooler personality. If Yuki liked blues and jazz, Kiba liked rock and metal. Because of that trait though, he was a very good and strong leader that knew how to head a campaign and achieve goals as if they were nothing to him. He was by no means a man of low intellect, however it was his attitude to a lot of things that meant that he didn't have his mind on the matter so much as his heart and soul was into it.

Funnily enough, Yumi and Rei were very similar. Not in terms of looks, but in terms of personality. They were the same in a lot of ways, sharing things such as a playful nature, hardworking yet organized work ethic and the same video game love. Rei liked Legend of Zelda, so Yumi did too. Yumi liked Rhythm Heaven, and Rei did too. They shared the same kinds of tastes in music as well, if those similarities weren't enough. However… this did mean that they were sometimes at odds at what they wanted to do at times. They also had to share quite a lot of things between the two of them as well. Hiroto was more surprised that they didn't break into any fights at all even when their video game times were at stake.

This also went to show how much more mature Yumi and Rei were for their ages. That is, they were the same ages and they had about the same amount of maturity. They both knew that fighting wasn't something that they should use to solve their problems a lot of the time and that it was always best to fix their problems with a well cooled discussion. Or as they liked to call the situation, 'talking out their problems like adults did.'

Perhaps that was the only thing that made sure that they were still going to be kids. They both thought that adults were inherently mature just because they were adults and that they had to be otherwise they were kids. They were children that knew as well as any other teenager, woman or man, that they were children, and that they of all people, had 'privileges' that every child had because they were kids. That they could have fun more of the time and that adults had to handle a lot more work to keep their lives going with no stopping at all.

Whether it was because they were kids or because they knew what adults were a bit better, they were mature not only because they knew and practiced values that adults should have most of the time. They were mature because they knew that they were children and that children could be children. That was what was truly amazing about them.

Rei and Yumi were only… what? About seven years of age? They had already known all that. They didn't wish to grow up, or anything of the sort anymore. They were content with who they were, and they knew that as 'mere' kids, more things were going to pile on top of them like nothing really cared about how they grew and whether they were going to be functioning members of society. As teenagers, they would be expected to act like adults, even though they are treated like little kids in the world. And as adults… they were expected to live on and recreate the cycle over and over again.

Rei and Yumi knew almost all of it. If there was any one ambition that the two of them knew to keep close to their hearts, it was that they wanted to change all that. It was surely a huge ambition to place on their two small pairs of shoulders, but they had to try at least.

Strip away the contradictions, the corruption and the assumptions, and maybe, just maybe… they would really be able to start helping other people not only in their own communities or countries, but people of the world.

Like natural-born cosmopolitans with big ambitions.

As idealistic as they were, they were still admirable goals that really should have been implemented years ago. As it is, a lot more people are run on more traditional methods, because that's all they know, and they know it works, even though the more spectacular results that came about came at the expense and utter exploitation of other people. One would have to start thinking about whether the people who were in charge of everything really cared about anything else other than their own profit and just totally ignored the ecological and social factors that came into play as well.

It was almost like they were playing a vicious game of Monopoly.

Rei and Yumi were a truly hopeful duo, with big hearts and ambitions to match. One could only hope that their dreams and wishes would come to fruition… right?

But for now, Hiroto was happy to watch his grandchildren grow, and hopefully he would also be around for at least a part of their teen hood to see how they went about implementing those admittedly high hitting goals of theirs.

He would also be able to see how Kiba and Yuki felt about it. Though if it were up to him, and the two twins were going so well with their plans, he would think that his daughter and son would be very happy to see what they were doing and to be able to watch over them.

Elizabeth was becoming increasingly worried about what was happening in the world as of late. The tremors that shook the seal were becoming more and more intense, and she had a suspicion as to why.

Oh. Erebus was coming back again for more. But strangely to Elizabeth it seemed that it was… larger than before. In recent years, Erebus, the collective abomination made from humanity's despair had been leaving less of an impact on the seal He was protecting and more of a tickle at best. At the time, it had seemed to Elizabeth that things in the world had at least been getting a bit better, even without her efforts.

For her, it seemed that it would only be a matter of years before things in the world started looking up for everyone involved; for Mitsuru, Yukari, Akihiko, Ken, Aigis, Fuuka, Junpei and Koromaru. After He had left to guard the Night Queen, Nyx, from Erebus' attempts to destroy the seal and finally come into contact with Nyx, the remnants of the club named SEES formed the Shadow Operatives and they had been making it their job to eradicate any problems that might've been caused by Shadows.

They had been doing well at the time also with help from the Investigation Team that had been formed in Inaba, even if the members of that group still had to separate a little in order to build steady lives for themselves. And they had from her knowledge. They were all doing extremely well, everyone finding a decent job to work off of, even that little Shadow turned more human… what was his name? Ah yes, Teddie. Even he of all people had found himself a great place in the human world in helping Yosuke manage the Junes branches. It was quite amusing seeing the two of them cooperate all the time. Through all their bickering, through thick and through thin, they were wonderful partners now that Teddie was armed with the knowledge to truly help Yosuke with his work. After all, being manager of some of the larger Junes branches would surely be a lot of work for just the one person.

Chie, the girl with a liking for meat, found herself a job as a police officer. She had been able to live out her dream of dispensing justice to the unjust, and saving those who were in need from the troubles she could fix.

Yukiko had been busy managing the Amagi Inn as she had promised Yu, and to Elizabeth's delight, the town of Inaba was thriving with more customers being attracted to the smaller community that had once been less than well off as a result of little to no publicity. Elizabeth was particularly ecstatic however, because the famous hot springs were not in any danger of being abolished.

Kanji had finally plucked up the courage to ask Naoto into a more committed relationship, the level that could be called something along the lines of the level beyond friendship. In fact, before the whole fiasco that had been going in the present, the two were in a steady and close relationship. Even if Kanji still had to look after his mother's textile shop, and Naoto was still a little more invested in solving cases like she had dreamt, it had resulted in an agreement that they would only truly settle once they were both ready to commit them fully to a stronger, and longer-lasting bond.

Rise had been busy making a name for herself once she had gotten back into show business, and that was no surprise. The people that had been longing for her return came flocking back like birds in spring, and newer fans came as a result of her new, boisterous passion. Yu was also happy to say that he of all people was her boyfriend, even if they too were still separated by work.

And then… there was Yu. Back then, he had been as happy as ever, still spending time with the people that he formed strong bonds with in Inaba. He may have been a white collar worker, yes, but he was not any ordinary white collar worker. He was so diverse in his skills and was very smart, meaning that he was more sought after than any other kind of regular worker. In fact, given more experience in police work, he probably would have gone for a more criminal targeted career such as that of an officer or detective and made himself a name in the metropolitan areas.

Of course, nothing was going right anymore. Aforementioned people such as Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji and Rise were all dead in two strikes; one on Inaba itself, the second on Iwatodai. By the hands of one man: Red Seeker.

Almost like an invasion of private life and everything that He had kept dear, almost every trace of the Shadow Operatives and the Investigation Team were gone, aside from Yu and Naoto.

"I'm sorry, but I will have to say goodbye for now," Elizabeth smiled up at the seal that He had created, as a Mind Charged Megidolaon dispelled and drove Erebus back once again. "I will see you again, and maybe Erebus won't attack so much. See you, my sweet Minato."

With that, Elizabeth headed from the Abyss of Time and set out for the human world once again: for Japan.

Red Seeker had to be stopped, and if she had to use brute force, she would use it. No-one was going to destroy the world that Minato had gone to so much effort to protect; that precious world that she had come to care for as well.

"Can't you drive any faster!?" Misumi groaned at her partner. "You're a freaking police officer you can go as fast as you want during a pursuit you moron!"

The police officer next to Misumi was sweating bullets right now. Whether or not Misumi had some of the best records when it came to capturing criminals and chasing down many, many leads she was an extremely hard worker. Ironically, she worked so hard that the amount of work she did would seem almost criminal. Even when she slept, she was dreaming about catching criminals and solving cases.

But, it wasn't because she was so dedicated to her job, and while it might have seemed so, she wasn't devoted to the police force because of any kind of love for her job and what she did. For Misumi, protecting people and the city that she knows with all of her power was her sole ambition. She had a drive unlike any other kind of police officer; to keep those who were innocent safe and the less than moral to justice.

She was only a police officer because it was the one job that she knew of that would make it easier to help people in need.

Misumi was a police officer to keep her city safe, to keep those innocent safe and to keep her friends and family safe. That was her motivation.

…Noble or not, she was still a slave driver for rookies, and if you couldn't handle her intensity then you were going to be in trouble, that was for sure.

Apprehensively, Misumi's partner put his foot down and pressed on the pedal harder. Honestly, while he was still scared of somehow crashing while they sped past the lights, he was more scared of Misumi. Now that was something of an achievement.

"Come on! We've almost got him!" she grinned.

Before long, they were able to catch the speeder and scratch off another point of his on his license before he went back to his business. Whatever it was. That wasn't Misumi's business, that was for sure.

"Well, I'm surprised that you kept up with me," Misumi smiled a little at her partner. "Most partners that I have can't even handle a few hours of me, but you've kept up for a few days. Impressive."

The shaking partner, Kurama nodded slightly. "Uh… thanks…" he mumbled.

"Aw come on! All I want is for you to keep up with the work because we have people to save and cases to solve everywhere!" Misumi patted him on the back before walking off. "Hell, I'll even treat ya to a few drinks for handling me. Meet me at the Stray Sheep at eight!"

Kurama's eyes lit up from the encouragement and he managed to reply, "Uh, alright then. Thanks."

"So, you want anything?" the red-haired waitress asked with a bright smile as always.

"Uh yeah, just one rum and cola," Kenta replied with just as bright of a smile.

"Alright, one rum and cola coming right up!" she said enthusiastically before walking off.

Kenta's smile was not one that was about his job or anything like that. No, he was thinking about his fiancée. His fiancée was a very hard worker, beautiful, and to him, had wonderful motivations. He couldn't imagine himself with anyone else, because she was the same of kin; she shared the same work ethics as he.

Kenta might've gone out to the bar every once in a while with Kazuya, Daisuke, Yosuke and Gin, but he was as hard working as any kind of white collar worker could be. He was the kind of person that somehow got stuck with the larger load of work and went overtime, but he was always able to finish it before his train home.

One couldn't really say whether he was actually happy with his job or not with all the extra work that always got dumped on him but there was one thing that he knew that he was happy about. He was going to get married to Misumi; the most beautiful and kind woman that he had ever met in his life. Cheesy, he knew, but that was truly what he thought.

And Misumi knew how lucky she was as well. There were very seldom any men around anymore that cared anymore about love, and more just about the physical side of things. However for the two of them, just being with each other, and spending time together was the best part about their relationship. It was just… really all that the both of them needed. They were happy and it was only a few days ago that Kenta had proposed to her.

Quite a spectacle, and yes, an awkward moment. But, it was the sincerity behind the words that made Misumi say 'yes' to that magic question of his.

Kenta could and would remember that moment forever. It was as if that one moment was a video clip, something that he could play back in his mind and imagine so vividly, as if it had happened a few minutes ago rather than a few days. However, he knew one thing: he was happy.

Kenta was happy.

And really, that was probably all that mattered to the both of them besides the work they both had to trudge through and their other friends.

Kenta could remember that the two of them were both standing in a warmer evening, the navy blue curtains stretching above their heads with barely a blemish on the cloth. The day was one that had come over a few days of rain, so there were barely any clouds in the sky. It was just the clarity of the sky, much like a crystal, the beauty of the swirling and dark colours, the pale, silvery moon and the small amounts of stars that were sprinkled around the night. The evening was cool, but not cold, and warm, but not hot. The temperature just seemed to be perfect overall. It was almost as if the world revolved around the two of them, and just them, setting itself up for the big reveal.

He could remember so very clearly, the ring that he gave her; it was a simple but silver band, with a ruby embedded in it. A ruby about as fiery and red as Misumi's passion and drive. Put it simply, it was the reddest ruby that the two of them had ever seen.

Kenta could remember as he bent, buckled, finally knelt down in front of her and opened the box in front of her. What was probably the best part… it was probably her expression. She seemed to know what was happening at the time, but at the same time she didn't seem to expect it at all. Kenta was usually quite soft-spoken, to contradict, but equalize their personalities. Misumi could only imagine how nervous Kenta was while he proposed, and the last thing that Kenta saw before she said 'yes' was her radiant smile.

The next parts were going by in a blur, and Kenta could hear how excited, incredulous and how wonderfully delighted Misumi was. All that she was thinking, was that particular day, was probably the best day of her life. It couldn't possibly be anything less than that. That day… that day was perfect. There were no other words that could be said about that day. The choices simply paled and hung their heads when put together in comparison.

When all was said and done, the two of them loved each other very much and they wouldn't have it any other way. It wasn't the kind of wild love that some others had, but the kind that was so sweet, and so sincere; the kind of relationship that other women longed, no… yearned for.

And for Kenta, it was the kind that had no pressure, and just the two of them going at their own paces. They both had things that they wanted to do on their own, among the things that they wanted to do together.

For example, Misumi's motivations to protect the city and her family would keep her rooted to that very city for almost her whole life since she loved it so much, but Kenta simply didn't mind. He couldn't really. In fact, her noble motivations were just one of the reasons why he loved Misumi. They were the kinds of qualities that you simply didn't find in too many people around him nowadays, and truly it was a shame.

The start of their story was… well, whenever Kenta looked back on it he kept on wondering how he even managed to pluck up the courage to ask Misumi out, but it wasn't something he could, and would not try to forget.

You see, Kenta was not the popular child in high school, and even though bullies then weren't as prominent at his unlike some other places, he still was the target of such abuse. Of course, he was only strong enough to take so much bad-mouthing from them all. That is, until Misumi stepped in.

She was one of the more popular girls at school, and for good reason. Well, better reasons. Misumi was the kind and caring girl, who was pretty to match. In fact, she was so pretty that she could be called delicate when it came to the features that defined her with a combined look from her slim form, flowing dark hair, fair skin and rich brown eyes. No-one would ever suspect from a girl such as her to have such a disposition, especially since she was normally kind and polite to everyone that she met.

"How dare you!? Get away from him!" she shouted. At that moment, every head turned to look at her, not only because there was a commotion and people were normally attracted to this kind of commotion, but because it was Misumi, of all people, that had defended Kenta.

After that, the two had become staunch friends, and Kenta was never bullied again. They hung out together often; often enough to get to know each other well and know more secrets about each other like best friends. And that was what they were at the time.

However, this one time, that friendship had evolved into something closer, and something stronger; the thing that was love.

After some time, Kenta confessed his feelings to Misumi, and needless to say, between the two of them, the reaction and question was accepted with open arms. Literally. Because her next reaction was that of a hug and the same words.

"Here's your rum and cola," the waitress smiled and left the glass on the table, coaster and all. "Tell me if you want anything else 'kay?"

"I will," Kenta nodded and smiled back before she walked off.

"Yo, Kenta!"

Addressed person looked around to the entrance of the bar, seeing his buddies; Yosuke, Daisuke, Kazuya and Gin.

"Hey guys," Kenta said as they sat down around the horseshoe.

"Yeah, how've you been going?" Daisuke asked with a grin. Daisuke was a good friend of Kenta from work, and while they worked completely different shifts, it didn't mean that they were separated too much because the two of them met at the Stray Sheep pretty often. It was probably their favourite bar, what with the calm and relaxed atmosphere of the place. It was a brightly lit place, and it was more of a place for people to catch up and hang out rather than a place where you went so you could dance in the mosh pit.

"I've been going good, as always," Kenta nodded with the same smile that had been plastered on his face the whole time that he had been sitting there.

All of his friends could see it; it was actually also the same smile that had been on his face for as long as he had been thinking about Misumi. "Geez, still thinking about Misu-chan?" Kazuya asked with a disbelieving tone, although his face was that which knew why Kenta was like how he was. He knew that of all people, Kenta really cared about Misumi, and he could at least sympathise with his feelings. He would definitely still be thinking about her, especially when he had just proposed. Like a boss.

"Hehe," Kenta chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with an almost ashamed expression. "Y-You know me," he stuttered.

Gin and Yosuke only laughed. "Come on, we know you like her, and considering what just happened," Yosuke said.

"I couldn't blame you dude," Gin grinned.

"We know how you feel."

"And you are the first to do it out of all of us."

"So we won't mind."

"Not at all."

Once again, Yosuke and Gin exchanged their sentences. They were quite a strange pair. Despite the two of them not being related by blood at all, they were about as close as any two brothers could get; they were so close and knew each other well enough to finish each other's sentences with not only the same words, but the appropriate tone and with probably the same kinds of thoughts. Well, same thoughts as far as the two of them knew.

It was still a story that the two of them had yet to tell. And knowing those two, they would probably do it the same way that they told their friends everything; in a way that meant they would have to finish each other's sentences.

Kenta only laughed before saying, "Thanks."

"No problem man. So…" Kazuya smiled. "Has anything of interest been going around at work lately?"

"Not really… still the usual," Kenta replied simply, taking a sip of his slightly sweet, slightly sour cocktail. He swirled it around his mouth before swallowing, savouring the taste. Perhaps it was just because Kenta was more of a casual drinker, but he didn't quite like the taste of the beer that was served in the area, so he lay off those kinds of drinks. Most of the whiskey there was too strong, and sake simply wasn't for him.

"Really? Or is it because you're thinking about Misu-chan so much?" Yosuke laughed, slapping Kenta on the back.

"No, there really hasn't been anything happening in particular. Not in my area anyways," Kenta replied, shrugging down another sip.

"Hey boys, can I get you anything?" the red haired waitress from before walked over to their table, with a smile as always.

"Beer please, Eri-chan," Gin and Yosuke said in unison. The newly-known Eri nodded, making a mental note to herself.

"Alright then. What about you two?" Eri asked, pointing to Daisuke and Kazuya.

Kazuya grinned before saying, "I think you know the usual, Eri."

Daisuke slapped Kazuya on the back before saying, "Stop it man, you remember how many times she's turned you down right?"

Kazuya folded his arms and gave Daisuke a fake hurt expression before sighing. "Killjoy," the ear bud wearing Kazuya muttered.

"You guys! You shouldn't talk like that in front of a lady like me!" she scolded them, puffing her cheeks indignantly. It was one of Eri's more noticeable traits; she puffed her cheeks up whenever she was offended by something. And while this technique might've worked to scare off predators with frogs and other animals, it simply didn't work in her favour. Eri actually looked really cute whenever she did that, and all it did was make Kazuya even more attracted to Eri. Yes, Kazuya did actually like Eri. "Anyways, so sake… what about you Daisuke?"

"I'll have a stout then," he replied.

"Alright then! Beer, beer, sake and beer," Eri listed off. "Geez, can't you guys be more like Kazuya? All you guys are having is beer!" she exclaimed, puffing her cheeks up once more.

"But… beer…"

"Tastes good…" Gin mumbled indignantly.

"Ugh, whatever you say guys. Anyways, want a refill Kenta?" Eri asked, turning to him and indicating at his near empty glass.

Kenta looked around at each of his friends who merely shrugged. Basically telling him that they didn't really care if it got added to their tabs or not. "…sure," he replied.

"Alright then! I'll be back you guys," Eri smiled before going off in the direction of the counter and tap at the back of the bar.

"So…" Daisuke started, however he looked up as he heard the doorbell, making the others turn too.

"Hey Kenta-kun! I brought a friend, he's a newbie!" Kenta heard Misumi say.

Misumi was still in uniform, but she still looked as beautiful as always. Not even ruffled in the slightest. "Then let's get some more drinks. Eri's probably gonna be back sometime soon," Kazuya beckoned the two officers to the horseshoe.

"Great! But I'm not going to drink too much today, still have work tomorrow," Misumi sighed, though she still had a happy smile on.

"Fine as always," Daisuke nodded.

Misumi nodded, leading Kurama to the table. Said officer was pretty quiet, and he didn't say… much of anything really. He was still a little shaken by that morning; it was their first time working together to catch someone, but he had never expected Misumi to be so boisterous that he didn't have that much energy at all.

"Anyways you guys, this is Kurama," Misumi introduced the quiet officer and stood in front of the table. "He actually managed to handle me today, so I thought that it would be good to introduce him to you guys."

"Hello," Gin started.

"We see that you have managed to handle…"

"Our resident dragon lady."

"It takes quite a lot of trouble…"

"To keep up with her…"

"So your efforts are to be commended," Yosuke finished.

Misumi sent a withering deadpan at the two of them, and the two friends pretty much wilted under her gaze, letting out nervous chuckles. "Gee, thanks you guys," she sighed.

"Uh… thanks I guess?" Kurama said unsurely.

"Come on Kurama, be more confident!" Misumi scolded, smacking him on the back of his shoulder. That milquetoast of a police officer certainly didn't expect that strike and had to stand on his tip-toes to try not to fall over and thankfully he recovered before anything drastic happened.

"…okay then," Kurama squeaked.

"Still, good to meet you Kurama," Daisuke nodded, shaking his hand with a strong grip, but thankfully Kurama was able to anticipate it this time and shook with as much strength as Daisuke; basically it wasn't an awkward moment.

"Same here," Kurama replied as they let go.

"Hey, Misu-chan!" Eri called as she walked over with the drinks that the men had ordered earlier.

"Hey Eri-chan!" Misumi smiled.

Eri put down the drinks, handing the appropriate tumblers and glass to each of the men at the table. After she finished, Eri gave Misumi a hug. "Good to see you again! You don't come around as often!" Eri complained as they broke from the embrace, puffing her cheeks.

"I know, I know… but I've been busy with work so I can't come over as often," Misumi sighed, running her hand through her hair. Kenta still kept in contact with Misumi even during the day at times, so he wasn't all that surprised by the fact that she always had a lot of work to do for the force. Again, he was always supportive of her work, all the way.

Eri laughed before saying, "I know, I'm just joking. But good to see you! How long are you gonna be hanging around this joint?"

"Probably longer than usual at least," Misumi replied with a cheerful tone, and an expression to match.

"Great! Then I'll get you and the new guy a drink. What's your name?" Eri asked.

"I'm Kurama," he replied.

"Well Kurama, whatcha feel like tonight?" Eri asked with that same cheerful and enthusiastic voice.

"I'll get some sake please," Kurama said.

"See guys? You guys should be more like Kurama and Kenta! You can't just keep ordering beer all the time!" Eri puffed her cheeks before saying. "I'm going to say that you're having the usual Misu-chan," she said with a bit of a questioning tone, earning her a nod from Misumi. "Great! Drink up guys! More business for us!" Eri joked before she skipped to the counter.

By the time the night ended, everyone had finally caught up with what they were doing for the week and they bid Misumi and Kenta goodbye.

"Well, that was tiring, but totally worth it," Misumi sighed.

"Yeah, I agree," Kenta nodded. "Well…" Kenta smiled and left a kiss on Misumi's cheek. "Think we better get going to home. We still have work tomorrow."

Misumi blushed ever so slightly but nodded in agreement. "I'll see you later Kenta-kun," she said with a sing song voice.

Yu was as jittery as he ever was, and by now with the sun rising high in the afternoon, he was starting to remember what was starting to bug him. But for now he brushed it off. He could take care of it later. Besides, Naoto was still with him, and it would be dangerous to do if she was around, as enthusiastic about the case as she was.

Naoto was still unknowing about Yu's troubles, mostly because he was so good at keeping up a constant face of blankness. You would have to look as carefully as you could to see any really visible reactions in his blank slate of a face, and Naoto didn't have the time or concentration to do so. Besides, she was sure that Yu was fine. If he had something to say, then he would tell her.

As the two of them were discussing things about the case over lunch…

Boom!

An explosion rang out in the city, and then another! The buildings around the two of them started to topple over, cracks snaking around the forms of the once whole buildings. And it was not just the rubble that came cascading to the asphalt.

People inside the buildings were clinging on for dear life as their very environment collapsed around them. The lights flickered on and off, the lighter items around the offices flew every which way, the glass that made up the windows shattered and shrapnel and fire raced around in the air everywhere. And eventually…

The force that led the building down to the ground was so strong, that everything in the building turned against the people within and crushed them against the rising floor before everything stopped and they fell back towards the concrete.

Smash!

"We have to get out of here!" Naoto yelled, taking Yu's hand to try and get him out of the collapsing city. However, as tightly as Naoto tried to hold onto Yu's hand, the two were separated by the droves of crowd that were scrambling through the once pristine city.

Not even the brightly shining sun had any effect on the people that were desperately trying to make their escapes. The one beacon of hope that kept on shining upon their city could not do anything to life the people's hope and utter fear in this situation.

Another explosion and another building fell. There were people still running under it, and those people were completely crushed underneath the heavy concrete.

Naoto frantically tried to swim through the crowd of people to try and find Yu, her last friend. She would be damned if she didn't have her last friend lost to the acts of terrorism that were starting to make themselves known around Japan. Not Yu. Not her leader.

"Yu!" she shouted, however her voice simply could not carry through the yells for help and the pleading screams that echoed through the air. "Yu!"

Naoto's strength wasn't enough to break through the strong current of people that were rushing through the streets, away from all the destruction.

Takao was taking a bit of a nap on the train, trying to get back home.

Takao had been walking through the streets, coming back from school and passing by some shops to get some supplies for school and projects; the usual. He couldn't help but muse that the day simply looked perfect at the moment, with the blue skies and the steadily shining sun. The wind was calm and cool, to balance out the seemingly warmer and muggier temperatures of the spring time. All in all… yes. It was probably the most perfect day that he had ever seen.

But still, he was pretty tired with all of the things that were going on at school; who could blame him really? After all, with something as demanding as school around, he didn't have as much time to rest as he usually did. So, he took a short nap on the train.

And had the strangest dream that he had ever had in a long time.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room…"

Takao opened his eyes, finding himself in a room that looked strangely like the lounge back at his house. However, the couches, tatami, pillows and just about everything… it was blue. A dark fall into an abyss, deep blue that strangely gave Takao a sense of calm and serenity that he had never felt before.

Aside from the room itself, the first thing that Takao noticed was the short hobbit-like man sitting in front of him. He looked absolutely eccentric what with his bloodshot eyes, hunched back, exaggerated eyebrows, large nose, large grin and the lack of hair on his head; all that was on it was a few wisps of white hair. And yet, despite that near eerie appearance of his, he looked what someone could call… formal. The black tuxedo, pants and the white gloves gave Takao that impression at least. But most of all…

He was wondering what the heck was happening. If he was having a dream, it was most certainly the strangest dream that he had ever had in… the longest time.

"My name is Igor… I am delighted to make your acquaintance…" the dwarf-like man introduced himself. There was something about his voice that also made Takao somewhat tranquil. The smooth, knows-what-he's-doing tone of his seemed to put him at ease.

"Where am I?" Takao asked.

It was the question that was asked of the man many a time when the guests didn't know what they were doing there. "This is the Velvet Room. It is a place that exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… It has been a few years since we have welcomed a new guest to this humble abode, however… many circumstances have made it so that more help is needed; more than ever."

"My help? Why mine?" Takao asked.

"Because, you have a pure heart, and have already established many bonds with the people around you. With that… you actually have a substantial amount of power within the sea of your soul," Igor explained. Whether it was unconsciously or not, Takao placed his hand over his heart, still wondering what Igor could mean by what he said.

"You may have enough power to try and stop the newest threat to humanity," Igor smiled. Though, thinking that he was smiling seemed to be wholly pointless. Because Igor seemed to constantly be smiling anyways.

"Do you mean… Red Seeker?" Takao said slowly, not quite sure of his guess. He never really was confident whenever he was guessing, not even now.

Igor kept his almost unnerving gaze on Takao before nodding. "Yes… the Red Seeker is that very threat, and there is not very much time left to be able to stop him," Igor closed his eyes, seemingly in contemplation. "Well now. I think I have wasted more than enough time on the formalities. I think it is time for you to awaken to your power; the power to awaken the manifestations of the facets of your mind, and your soul."

"Let us be on our way," Igor waved what seemed to be farewell before Takao's eyes were screwed shut due to a blinding light that still stung his eyes even while they were closed.

Once Takao was able to open his eyes, what he saw was a wholly different sight to the one from before. The floor was checked, black and white, presumably with a marble finish. Four golden pillars surrounded the circle of checked marble, stretching up seemingly endlessly into the blue and grey sky. If it could be called a sky. When Takao looked down, the colours surrounded even the bottom of what seemed to be the one and only plateau within that space.

What he found was only a lonely butterfly, cyan in colour and fluttering calmly in place.

Once Takao had regained his bearings, the butterfly moved towards him ever so slowly, circling around him.

"I'm sorry we couldn't have met under better circumstances…" Takao heard a voice speak to him within his mind. Was it the butterfly?

"What do you mean?" he asked cautiously, still eyeing the slowly moving butterfly.

"My name is Philemon. I am the being that watches over humanity's course and fate," he replied coolly, with a knowing voice. "I am the one that sends agents to fight against the incoming evil… with the power of Persona."

"Persona?"

The voice, no; Philmeon, chuckled a little before continuing on to say, "I'm not surprised. But, the Persona is a facet of your personality that takes manifest in the real world. With it, you are able to protect yourself from any threats. Any kind of Persona is as beautiful as a god, or as ugly and consumed by evil, much like a demon's disposition."

"Your Persona, which I will awaken… is the tool that you will use to defeat the evil. I trust you to do your best, if you do accept. This is an extremely informal meeting, so I can understand if you do not accept," Philemon said.

Takao was simply stunned by what was being said to him. Admittedly, he had no idea what was going on, and this dream, if it was just a dream, most of it was just starting to go over his head. And he was good at absorbing information. Why was it now, of all times when he needed this understanding most, that this skill was simply failing him? Was it because of how incredulous the whole thing sounded? It was quite a far-fetched scenario after all.

Who else could possibly believe that summoning this… this Persona, whatever it was… could help to stop the Red Seeker? As far as Takao knew, he couldn't go up against a destruction craving maniac like Red Seeker, especially since he had no idea where he would strike, what he could really do, his identity! This dream was surely the single most strange thing that Takao had encountered in his life, no doubt about that.

But… there was another hand, of course. What if, this Persona thing, whatever power he could possibly get… what if it was real? What if he could stop the Red Seeker?

…he certainly didn't want this newfound threat to endanger his family any more than it already was. He could remember his father's concerned expression and his mother's saddened one… Yuri and Ikimaru's determined expressions whenever they talked about the Red Seeker being stopped…

"…I can try," Takao said slowly. Truthfully, he was very unsure of himself and had no idea what was going to happen. At all. He was scared. If he accepted and awoke this… this Persona, he would have to bear responsibility to the ceasing of Red Seeker's onslaught on the cities; on Japan. That very thought… it was terrifying.

"Thank you," Philemon replied, landing on his shoulder. "I'm sorry that I cannot do more at the moment, but our possibilities are growing more and more limited by the hour. There may yet be a last spark of hope within you, my friend. Takao."

Takao's eyes widened. How did he know his name?

"Well then. I will lead you back to the human world in a few moments. Do your best to abolish this threat on humanity once and for all. Not just for me, and the Velvet Room, but the rest of your fellow kin," Philemon encouraged Takao one more time before Takao's vision faded to black.

When Takao woke up from that… admittedly strange dream, he found himself just a few seconds away from the station he was supposed to get off at. So, it was a dream, like he thought. He shook his head, briefly wondering what he had gotten himself into. There was surely a lot of things put on his shoulders right then, at that moment already, but now he also carried the possibility for a new future; a future that wasn't plagued by the Red Seeker anymore.

He wasn't quite sure whether he could do it or not. Being honest with himself that was what he really thought. The whole thing, the problem that had been presented to him now; it required almost all of his suspension of disbelief to be dropped. He was sure that the dream he had wasn't just any old dream.

…Especially since he was able to feel something, ever so faintly, slumbering at the back of his mind; Slumbering in the den of his heart, and resting within the sea of his soul. The one word that came to mind was: Persona. Was that what he felt? That presence he could feel, ever so slightly, at the back of his mind?

That was probably it. There weren't very many other explanations that didn't include the factor of him actually being crazy or the assumption that whatever he had just experienced earlier was a dream, and only a figment of his imagination. But that thing, that he could feel; it was there.

Sighing, he got up from his seat, carrying his bag slung over his shoulder and travelled towards the direction of the doors.

Whatever happened… it happened alright.

He stepped out of the train once the vehicle stopped moving, looking around for the exit to the station as he walked up the stairs.

The Red Seeker looked on as more buildings toppled over onto the streets, clouds of dust piling high into the air before they dispersed almost like the rumbles that sounded in the air as concrete met concrete and the buildings tore apart into little pieces.

He nodded to himself as he was starting to get pushed back by the fleeing crowd. He looked back for any signs of any onlookers as he donned his signature hoodie and pale white mask. There weren't any people that he knew were left. If anyone else was able to recognise him, it would be on the news as a terrorist and not as someone that the certain 'anyone' would recognise as a friend.

It meant… things had gone off without a hitch. He smiled to himself a little before spiritual energy started to gather in his palms; a Fire Breath spell.

The small 'bombs' that he had left around the city had set off the panic like he thought they would. They were almost like little pockets of spiritual energy that were concentrated into a small space to make hardly noticeable, yet destructive explosives. He chuckled to himself as he thought about it. The idea of having little spiritual 'bombs' was so amusing to him, for whatever sick reason.

He slipped on his gloves, just to make sure that no other traces of him were left around the city; no fingerprint could be left behind. The only thing that he left behind when he created the blows to each city or town that he had visited was the rubble and the remains of corpses crushed underneath now meaningless pieces of concrete.

Nothing else.

He released the fire breath spell upon a small area that was left unscathed by the explosions, partly because he wasn't able to put onto any of those structures his special SP bombs. The lumbering forms of the towers in the distance were brought to their knees, and echoes of their cries as they fell through the air rang out as their helpless, ragdoll-like forms collided with the asphalt at the bottom.

It was a satisfying sound to say the least. And since he was so far away he didn't even have to sit through all the dying screams either, so that was something that he could live with, that was for sure.

Around a shard of glass that he had encountered, it was once again surrounded by the corpses of several people; including a grey-haired man that he had once known. He wondered whether than man would be able to recognise him now, with all the things that he's done, and all the people that he had killed; the lives he destroyed.

…But it was no matter worrying about it now. Things had come to pass, and that man couldn't stop him anymore. Yu Narukami couldn't stop him now.

He had thought that just about everyone in the area had died, or fled however there was one person at the scene left.

Red Seeker eyed the boy in front of him with a scrutinizing gaze, and if Takao had been able to see the eyes of the man who resided under the mask, he definitely would have shivered at that point. But… truth be told, he was still frozen stiff. Takao was in front of the man that killed so many people and destroyed so many lives with his destruction.

The stress and the anger that was building within him was probably the thing that triggered the summoning.

Takao's body was hazed over by a blue mist, and a bright light started emitting from his form.

Red Seeker looked on amused. Another Persona user. Honestly, he couldn't feel that much power coming from the boy, but there was something about his Persona that seemed unusually pure compared to the others that he had encountered. Something… something else was at work, and that was probably why… despite the low spiritual rank of that boy and his Persona, it still felt a lot stronger than he would've expected.

Takao looked up, seemingly not as surprised as he thought he would've been when he found what seemed to be a god or a celestial being of some kind floating above him. "Tenryu…" he mumbled as he looked at the form of the dragon behind him.

The Persona nodded and coiled into a battle ready position, preparing for any attacks from the Red Seeker.

The Red Seeker smirked underneath his mask, amused at the situation. The Red Seeker summoned up more spiritual energy within and steadily built more of it up in order to show the boy what he could do.

Takao took a step back, however no more than that. He heard a voice speak within his mind; the calming one of Philemon. "Do not be afraid… I will protect you for now," he spoke. As if to reiterate his point, a blue butterfly landed on Takao's shoulder, lightly fluttering its delicate, blue wings.

The white and gold dragon hovering above roared, summoning droplets of water around its form, presumably from the atmosphere. To the Red Seeker and Takao, the air around them became much drier than before, probably from his Persona gathering the water from the atmosphere.

Tenryu roared once more, a surprisingly melodious roar sounding. With that, bullets of highly pressurised water flew towards the Red Seeker, leaving him no mercy as the fast moving drops of water sped through the air and the coldness stabbed into his skin even through the thick hoodie he was wearing.

However, Red Seeker didn't flinch. At all.

He was sneering underneath his mask even. That was so pitiful. That attempted Aquedyne simply didn't affect him. Takao was of a low spiritual rank, so even if his Persona was more powerful than before because of Philemon's help, the attack was still weak.

"Judgement of Darkness," Red Seeker called with a smirk. Dark SP started to gather around in the air, and in a split second for Takao, his vision turned black.

He didn't know why he held up his arms on instinct. He didn't know what that… spell or whatever, was; he didn't know whether getting hit with something like that would actually hurt. And he wouldn't know until a long time.

When he opened his eyes, a blue shield had formed around him, similar to the shade of blue the small butterfly that was on his shoulder was.

The Red Seeker clenched his teeth. Apparently Philemon was taking more action to try and stop him. He hadn't even formed a proper contract with him, and he was protecting him all the same. Bastard. Red Seeker formed another spell in his hands, this time, wind gathering around in a small sphere.

"Twinkle Nebula," he muttered.

Within a split second, the tempests that he had gathered flew towards Takao and Tenryu at blinding speeds, and what was even scarier was that Takao couldn't see the wind. It was just moving air after all. However, he could tell that it was there from the force and the fact that he could feel the winds coming towards him.

There was always some kind of terror of being hit with something that you knew was there, yet you couldn't see. There was a sort of uncertainty in being targeted with something that could potentially hit; especially since you couldn't see what was going to hit you. It was surely something that had terrified Takao and any other person that thought about it.

However…

Tenryu moved and coiled around Takao much in a protective display, and when the wind hit…

Tenryu stared back at Red Seeker with his ruby eyes, seemingly unfazed by the attack that he had fired at Takao.

The Red Seeker growled in frustration as he saw that Tenryu had blocked the Twinkle Nebula attack. That dragon nulled Wind attacks.

"Takao… I think it would be best to retreat…" Takao heard Philemon say within his mind.

Takao mulled over his options, Tenryu keeping a close eye on the Red Seeker. Honestly, he wanted to run. It appeared to him that the Red Seeker was far more powerful than he was. Whatever had crashed against the shield that Philemon created was very powerful. And something told him that those attacks that he was throwing were just scratching the surface of what the Red Seeker could do. Not knowing how far the depths of his power could go… it was horrifying. To be up against someone who he didn't know at all thanks to the mask that he wore, someone that he didn't know well enough to be able to know his limits…

He wanted to run. In fact, that was his first instinct all along. He was almost wondering why Philemon decided that it would be a good idea to stick around in the first place. But, like he had said, he did protect him.

Takao had decided for now that it was a matter of trust, and to be able to know how powerful the Red Seeker was at the time. The image of his adversary's power was forever ingrained into Takao's memory like a carving into the hollows of a near untouched cave. The cave was his psyche. The carving was the image and the feeling of the Red Seeker's onslaught. Takao was almost tempted to call the power that he held mesmerizing, enthralling in a twisted sort of way.

However, the way that he used his power was the worst thing that he had seen from the Red Seeker.

When he had reached the city that he had been going to in order to find the supplies for school that he needed… half of it was already ravaged. Pillars of smoke and dust were rising high into the sky, and the buildings were all toppled over like dominoes, and cards in a perfectly made deck splayed all over a table.

The image of the city was again, engraved deep into the halls of his mind. He was almost certain that the pictures that he had drawn from the situation would never leave him, and he could never lose it. Like a scar made from a festering wound.

And when he kept walking as Philemon urged, he saw the mangled, doll-like forms of lifeless people scattered around the areas that the buildings had collapsed. Seeing that made him sick to his stomach; not only because of the mere fact that they were dead, the fact that most of them were pulverised out of the mind's eye of recognition but because of the reason why they were dead.

It made him angry, and scared.

To think that someone could conjure all this destruction in a split second without even batting an eye… it was terrifying. He hated that feeling; the feeling of being scared and most of all… the feeling of futility.

Futility.

It was a word that he simply didn't like. To have no hope in any kind of situation was like being stuck in an abyss of insecurity and that abyss… it simply didn't have a bottom, especially if you didn't want it to have one. It was near impossible of a cycle to break free from. Takao hated it. That was why he hated futility.

And to feel, and even see that sensation right before his very eyes… made a haphazard and explosive mixture of emotions rise up within him; the ingredients sadness, anger and fear. It was mostly made up of fear. Sadness came next in size and proportion. And lastly… the anger. It was a small drop of it, and it was found diluted and settling quietly at the bottom of the stew. No-one besides Takao knew how angry he was.

That flammable fuel; anger. Inevitably it only rose to the surface, one he had laid his eyes on the Red Seeker for the very first time. Red hoodie, white mask and all. Even though, the fear prevailed, the anger was still floating quietly on the surface, almost waiting to burn up at the sight. However, the other emotions had swallowed it up once again once he could see the Red Seeker's capabilities.

Whether it was because the Red Seeker had been using his power for much longer than Takao could ever know, whether it was because some higher being was helping him like Philemon did… either way, he was surely much more overwhelming than he could ever imagine.

Takao took a step back and the white and gold dragon above him dissipated into blue mist. Another step back and the Red Seeker raised his eyebrow. Apparently he wasn't going to fight him anymore. That's a little disappointing. He wanted to take some joy into crushing Philemon's… rather pitiful hopes. Takao quickly turned his back and started running back towards the direction of the train station. He didn't even know whether they were working or not at that moment, and it was something that he sincerely doubted, but the direction would be his best bet at least if they were still working.

"Weak," Red Seeker muttered. He took off his mask, looking over the rubble with a clearer view. The Red Seeker smirked as he did. It was something that he was almost proud of himself for.

He closed his eyes, and remembered what had transpired before when he killed his friends. The Red Seeker may have been ruthless, but he wasn't completely heartless yet.

The first target he had besides his own family was Kanji. It was not out of spite, but because he was closest to where he was at the moment. "Hey, 'sup senpai?" Kanji asked fairly cheerfully as the Red Seeker entered through the sliding doors.

"Nothing much," he shrugged, looking over what Kanji was doing.

"So, 'sup with the get-up? It's kinda… out of the ordinary, you know?" Kanji asked as he put his needle down.

"Well, it's a bit cold, that's all," the Red Seeker replied. Truly, it was a little bit chilly when he came into Inaba, and up until now, he hadn't bothered to remove his jacket. However, the main reason he wore that was so the blood that could seep into, and through the fabric wouldn't be so noticeable, like it normally was in some other situations.

"I guess so…" Kanji replied, "I've been staying in here since I've got stuff to do, so I didn't really notice this time."

The Red Seeker nodded. He knew of Kanji's hobby, which had now turned into something that he could use to take over Tatsumi textiles; and do a really good job at making the things that his clients needed with almost absolute accuracy, reliable durability and a great look overall, like his shop was known for.

"I see…" he replied back, gathering SP in his hand, and getting ready to fire off a spell at Kanji. Whatever power boost that the Red Seeker had gotten when he awoke to his new, more powerful spells and boosts, it had also made him strong enough to materialize spells in the real world even though it was supposed to be very difficult to summon spells, let alone Personae simply at will in the real world.

"Well, I guess I will have to cut this off," the Red Seeker muttered.

"Huh?"

The Red Seeker came forward and stabbed Kanji in the chest, straight for the heart once again. "S-Senpai…" Kanji breathed out before he took his last breath. Red Seeker pulled out the knife from Kanji's lifeless body, and flicked off the blood that was stained on his blade.

The red liquid pooled underneath Kanji, spilling over the table and tatami, staining the surrounding area with scarlet.

He looked down at his clothes, finding that the blood was just about the same colour as his hoodie. Huh.

He walked out of the house nonchalantly, leaving the sticky and bloodied knife behind. He could afford to since there weren't any kind of fingerprints on the handle, and the Red Seeker was wearing gloves on his hands.

He once again walked the streets to his next target; the Hanamuras. The Red Seeker knocked on his friend's door and Yosuke opened up the entrance with a cheerful smile.

"Hey partner! Whatcha doing here?" Yosuke asked as he looked over his hoodie wearing friend.

"Yeah, what are you doing here?" Chie said.

"Nothing, just… wanted to visit," he replied.

"Oh! Well then. Good to see you! Why don't you stay for a little?" Chie invited him.

"Ah well… I guess I'll have to cut this meeting short," he replied, gathering SP in his hands.

"What do you mean?" Yosuke asked with that same grin as always.

That carefree smile of his… it was getting the Red Seeker really riled up when he saw it. No concern whatsoever, and there was just no remorse. The spiritual energy in his hand was simmering dangerously in his palm, and soon enough…

"I mean this!"

The SP that he had gathered in his hand formed a scarlet and black sphere. Within a split second, the blasts of energy knocked both Chie and Yosuke down. Yosuke struggled to get up, and Chie the same although she was more frantic and looking for something to defend herself with.

"W-What are you doing…?" Yosuke groaned, coughing out some blood and spitting it onto the tatami. "Why!?"

"I'm only doing what I should have done a long time ago," the Red Seeker replied simply, clutching an icy pike in his hand. Before Chie could do anything, he charged forward and stabbed Yosuke in the heart, killing him near instantly.

Chie whimpered as she tried to get up and kick the Red Seeker away, backing off and creating more distance between the two of them. The Red Seeker merely smirked and yelled, "Fire Breath!"

All in a few seconds, she had seen Yosuke's best friend kill her husband. So many thoughts were racing through her head, including things like; what can I do? What will happen? But most of all… Why!? Why did he kill Yosuke!?

The thoughts were cut short as Chie's body was burned. In just some moments, Chie took her last breath in the broiling flames, constantly asking herself, 'why?'

"And because… you betrayed me."

Those last words absolutely shocked Chie, but before she could think anything more, her consciousness became completely blank and blacked out.

The Red Seeker sighed as he left the building quietly.

He headed towards Junes, knowing that he would probably find Teddie there, if he was still working there. Especially since he wasn't with Yosuke.

The Red Seeker walked nonchalantly towards the expanded Junes, people around him not batting an eye. He was a familiar sight, even if the clothes that he was wearing were a lot different than what he would usually wear in spring.

No-one could ever suspect that five murders had already occurred within the town, all by the same person that was now walking through the streets like he owned the place. And in a way, he did. The fate of this town was already decided long before he had arrived, and no-one knew except for the dead. However… the dead couldn't tell you anything. Everything was hidden so well because of the way that he had killed every one of the friends that were living within Inaba. Inaba's inhabitants, its culture, the animals and the town itself were at the Red Seeker's mercy, rolling around like a marble in his palms.

He could drop it any time that he wanted to.

Anyone who had known that probably would have run for the hills already if they had known that. The Red Seeker truly was a destructive force after all. It would be absolutely terrifying to know that someone held the fate of a town in his very hands, and no-one would be able to stop him and no-one, would be able to change his mind.

But for now, he was heading towards Junes.

When he looked down at the mask that he had made for himself, he no longer saw the face of his old self. No longer would he live the life that he had been living before; surrounded by people that he thought were friends, but really not. There were only a few people that he could have considered sparing, but he killed them first. And that was not because he wanted to kill them.

He had already made a decision to kill and destroy as much as he could of the world, maybe even everything in it, and… he didn't want his closest to see him devolve into such a monster, like he knew he was becoming. Little Nanako and Ryotaro didn't need to see him become a mass murderer, basically, a terrorist.

The Red Seeker was only a façade to hide who he really was; a guise that he hid beneath so that no-one would be able to recognise him as he fell farther and farther into a bottomless pit; the pit that could only be ended by his inevitable demise and the pit that led him further and further into darkness as he took the life of the already dying world and crushed it to little shards of glass.

Not only did he start this wave of destruction because of his so called friends betraying him with unbridled amounts of ignorance, but because he knew that the world that he lived in was near worthless in the long run. Everything was going to die within a few decades or so because next to nothing had been, and could be done about the effects of things such as global warming and the consumption of coal to produce greenhouse gases.

The Red Seeker may have been near mindless when it came to destroying things around him, but he was still as smart as he ever was. He had kept his head and knowledge so far. He had kept the knowledge of what he had learned in school, from the pointless to the not-so pointless things that they could learn. University contained a wealth of knowledge and experience that no-one could ever know, and by now, he had also gotten himself a job. Fairly well paid at least.

But what he had learned over the years was that because of the fact that there was almost no effort being done about global issues, the world was slowly but surely deteriorating under the effects of the combined problems. It was scary and almost saddening how the world was going now. While most problems were kept under wraps, he knew, and a lot of other people also knew, that the world was definitely not fine, and that there were a lot of things around him that had yet to be fixed, especially over a long period of time.

And now…

He had taken on the guise of the Red Seeker. Not only would the Red Seeker end humanity as he, and anybody else knew it, end culture and traditions, end dreams and aspirations, end lives from the broken to the mended, but the Red Seeker would also end him.

To Naoto, he was another dead man lost to the hands of the Red Seeker, and while that fact may have been true to her eyes, he still wasn't gone, and wasn't gone in that sense. He was dead, because the Red Seeker had taken over his life, and his very aspirations. This new façade, this admittedly destructive and callous mask… with it, there was no more trace of the man that he used to be:

Yu Narukami.

Takao managed to get home dirty but safe out of the situation that he had found himself in just a few minutes ago. It turned out that the Red Seeker had kept the train stations fairly intact. He had no idea why, but for now he was going to run with it because he had just found himself within a very dangerous situation, and barely got out alive. If Philemon wasn't protecting him, then he probably wouldn't have been alive now, and he was wholly thankful for that. But honestly now, he wasn't that sure that he could really take on the task of eradicating the Red Seeker. He could see why people had a hard time dealing with him; his fire, ammunition and power was something that normal people simply wouldn't have seen coming, something that struck swiftly and something that disappeared as fast as it came. That was the power of the Red Seeker.

He was almost wondering why the Red Seeker had spared him of all people, but… right now he didn't care. Takao had managed to get away from his wrath and for now, that was good enough for him. He hastily opened the door, not even bothering to knock anymore. He was so tired right now, and he didn't want as much time to wait on getting some rest and sleeping the problem off for now before he could try and face the Red Seeker of all people again.

"Takao, are you okay?" Mikuru said with a frantic tone as Takao burst into the house, wrapping him in a hug despite the dirt, dust and encrusted blood on his clothes.

"I-I think I'm okay," he managed to stutter out. "I'm just really… really tired," Takao tried to reassure his kaa-san.

"Well… get some rest first," Mikuru sighed, rubbing Takao's back.

"Okay…" he mumbled, almost tempted to fall asleep right in his mother's arms. "I will…"

Mikuru nodded slowly before leading his doll-like body to the sofa.

But for Takao's nap… once again he was pulled into a familiar and blue room. The Velvet Room again?

Takao barely opened his eyes. When he finally grew adjusted once more and his feeling came back, he found that there wasn't any more fatigue plaguing his joints, especially his legs. For whatever reason, unknown to Takao, he didn't feel any pain at all. In fact, he didn't even feel tired. He felt about as light as a feather and as energetic as he usually was. Was it because of the Velvet Room?

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young man…" Igor said with his words rolling off and into Takao's ear just like the material for which the room that he was in, was named after; much like smooth velvet. Even though Takao was still a bit bleary eyed, he could hear just as well as he usually could, especially with how clear Igor's voice was.

"I see that you have finally encountered the Red Seeker," Igor smiled, his grin as eerie and unsettling as ever.

Takao nodded slightly. He had indeed met the Red Seeker and witnessed his power firsthand. It was definitely not a pleasant experience, and he would've rather not seen that man's power. If he could be called a man. Was he really anything more than a monster at this point with all the things that he had done so far?

"What do you think of said man?" Igor asked, even though he carried himself this time with a tone that basically said that he probably knew what Takao thought of the Red Seeker.

"…I don't like him. He does not seem to hold any remorse for any of the things that he's done," Takao answered simply. "Even though he's destroyed and taken so many lives, cities, and wiped out a majority of the people that live around this area, he doesn't seem to have let it get to him."

"I can see how you would think that," Igor replied. "In fact… that man used to be someone that this room once lent its privileges services to; the services that bring guidance to the path that a Wild Card is supposed to lead through a journey, the services that teach that Wild Card about the importance of bonds, and lastly… the services that lent itself to the property of fusion between multiple Personae. However, the last does not apply to you."

It made sense to Takao. After all, he only had the one, albeit fairly powerful Persona, Tenryu. However, that was not what he was truly concerned for at this point. Apparently, and according to Igor, the Red Seeker also used to be a 'guest' to the Velvet Room, but… "How is that possible?"

"He is no longer a Wild Card anymore. He is merely a fleeting shadow of his former self, and that has allowed a certain, most powerful being, to control our dear guest's actions, and feed to him a sickening, poisonous power," Igor explained. Even if, some of that explanation went over Takao's head because he had no idea what this power was, or what this being was, that was feeding to him power, and the identity of that certain god.

"Who and what power?" Takao asked almost immediately after Igor had attempted to explain.

Igor chuckled before answering, "This being is the being that you should refer to as Nyarlathotep, the controller of chaos."

"Nyarlathotep?"


	7. Guess It's Something You Call Acceptance

Nyx sat at the rooftop, trying to avoid most of the people that were trying to ask her to dance. Couldn't they see that she didn't care about them at all? She wasn't looking to dance. She just wanted to leave the party behind.

But of course, Minato urged her to come so that she gain a bit more experience. However little it was, it apparently could still help her. And because of the Fall. Hmph…

Again, and again, boys came up to her, hoping to dance. But she declined each, not interested in the slightest. She got so tired of it that she had to get herself to the rooftop to get some fresh air. She thought that no-one would find her there. But one person did.

"Nyx, are you sure you don't want to dance at all?" Minato asked with a sceptical expression before sitting next to her. "Though, I really shouldn't be talking, but still…" he chuckled a little, trying to make conversation.

"Not one of these boys interests me. They're only looking for popularity, things to gain for themselves with no regard for me. At the end of the day, they're just looking to dance with me because I'm called the most beautiful girl in the school, and that's it," Nyx answered sternly, looking down at the wooden floorboards.

"Is that what you think?" Minato mumbled before standing up in front of Nyx, holding out his hand with a nervous expression. "Then do you want to dance with me instead? I'm curious to see how well you can."

Nyx looked to the blue-haired teen with a curious expression, mulling it over. Minato didn't have the problem of a lack of popularity. He had the exact opposite problem, just like her. He was fawned over by just about every girl in the school, and was the most popular. Not that he looked for it, but his charm drew people in.

Of course, he could just be asking her because he didn't want to deal with the Fall. He had so explicitly put it before. And yet, Nyx couldn't deny the offer from him. She tried thinking nothing of it, but it was getting harder to resist smiling because of it.

"I guess," Nyx answered, taking a gentle grip on Minato's hand and standing up. "I could a little," she said, feeling her heartbeat flutter at impossibly high rates. Come on, slow down already! He told her that he hated her to her face. But then, why did it keep on racing?

"Alright then," Minato said with a satisfied tone, although his expression said that he was surprised to see her comply with his request.

Nyx raised Minato's hand and placed her other at his shoulder, almost as if she had practiced it several times before. And she did. Those parties with the other gods taught her to dance well.

"You seem to know what you're doing," Minato commented as he placed his free hand on her waist.

"I guess. Going to parties does that to you," Nyx sighed heavily, as they naturally started moving along to the slow beat of the music. "I had to get good at it for the few times that I went."

Minato hummed a little, thinking that it was the same reason that Nyx had ever grown immune to being called 'beautiful.' It was too bad, really. "I see…" he replied. "Guess we're not going to go back down, are we?"

"Why would I do that? It was precisely the reason why I came here," Nyx said with a deadpan.

"I know. I didn't think anything less. I'm fine over here as well. I needed some breathing space," Minato chuckled slightly.

"As if you're getting any here while we're stuck dancing together," Nyx snapped.

Minato smiled slightly and bent down to Nyx's ear. "I don't mind," he whispered.

Nyx's eyes widened as she thought she felt ichor rushing to her face, bringing glitter and gold to her cheeks that weren't there before. "I-I see," she bit her lip. She was blushing, AND her heart was racing, pounding heavily in her ears, only able to focus on that, and Minato's voice. Why did he do that?

"Hey, you're blushing," Minato noted with a laugh as he stood upright. "Didn't think I'd see that again."

"Are you _trying_ to?" Nyx said angrily.

"Maybe," Minato grinned, his tone and expression showing no signs of apology.

"Why? I thought you said that you didn't like me. You said that you despised me," Nyx glared into Minato's gleaming eyes.

"Nyx…" Minato said slowly. "What I said, was a mistake. I know you probably won't take that seriously, but my anger just got the better of me. I don't really hate you. But I think…" he trailed off, a saddened expression replacing his grin and remorse shaking his voice.

'He thinks?' Nyx sighed inwardly, looking away from his gaze.

"…I feel the exact opposite," Minato said seriously before gently pulling her chin to face him, looking into Nyx's still scowling eyes.

"You do?" Nyx scoffed.

"Nyx… I don't like you," Minato continued, not noticing the fact that he was now leading Nyx through the steps, even though she was moving steadily on her own before.

"Then what?" she said quietly, unsure of what Minato was going to say next. She wasn't getting her hopes up. Hearing him say that he hated her before hit her harder than she would've thought.

"_I love you._"

Nyx looked into Minato's eyes once more, trying to find the lie that was hidden beneath his words. But there wasn't one! For once, he didn't seem like he was trying to hide his thoughts with his cloudy grey eyes. They were actually, like silver, shining brightly with renewed clarity.

"Are you kidding me?" Nyx growled.

"No," Minato smiled, breaking his grip on Nyx's hand and waist and pulling her into a hug, holding her tight. "I don't lie… about these kinds of things…"

"But how? You still said that you hated me before! How could you!?" Nyx said incredulously. "Not to mention that I'm a goddess, and you're a human! And I had Erebus already an-"

Minato sighed heavily. "I know. I know all of that. I've known you for this long, haven't I? I don't hate you. And the rest… doesn't matter."

"People can love whoever they want. I chose you."

Nyx tried to retort, but she found no words coming from her mouth. But she stumbled. "I-I…" she bit her lip, trying to deny the fact that her heart was beating as fast as it possibly could, and trying to deny that she loved Minato as well since he had saved her.

"Shh," Minato smiled slightly, placing his finger on Nyx's lips. "You don't have to say anything. Just reject me or don't." And he stepped back with a blank expression. "I just had to say it before my heart burst."

Nyx gulped, not knowing how and why she was feeling this way. Why hadn't she? She loved Erebus, didn't she?

…or was it just a lie?

Nyx stood still, not sure how to move her feet, but she kept on looking at Minato's gleaming eyes. That glint.

…she hadn't seen it in Erebus' eyes before, and it was drawing her towards Minato. Was it his sincerity?

She stepped slightly towards him, her balance trembling.

That glint. Nyx thought that it told her everything that she needed to know.

Minato looked to Nyx unflinchingly, although he could feel his heart racing. It was difficult to decide, wasn't it? But his blank look turned to one of surprise when he found Nyx's lips on his.

She pulled back, and hugged Minato. "I love you too," Nyx said, finding the most sincerity and truth that she had ever felt in that one moment than she had ever felt in her long life.

Minato's shocked face relaxed and then he breathed out in relief. "I'm glad that you do. You've helped me so many times that I can't even remember anymore."

"What do you mean?" Nyx asked.

"I mean… once I had the answer to life, I felt like I lost it almost as soon as I regained consciousness in the seal. I forgot what I'd learned. But you helped me learn again about bonds, and… love," Minato chuckled. "I just lost it, and I took out the hate that I didn't even know I had on you. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You helped me too. I didn't know that humanity had things like bonds. But now I really know how powerful they are," Nyx smiled. "Like the one I have with you."

"You're right. This bond… I'll cherish it forever," Minato nodded.

"I will too," Nyx said.

"I'm glad you think the same," Minato replied with a gentle smile before he leaned closer and softly placed his lips on Nyx's.

Nyx was surprised to know that Minato wasn't aggressive at all. From what she had heard from the other girls that he had been with and how many times he had done anything, she thought that maybe he would be. But he wasn't. Or was it just because it was her?

She wasn't sure.

Nyx pulled back from Minato, looking at him curiously. "You aren't very aggressive, are you?" she laughed a little.

Minato just looked to Nyx with a smirk. "You want me to be?" he grinned.

"Maybe."

"Well…" Minato looked around the rooftop before using his Persona magic to cover the door with a layer of frost. "I can do that too," he whispered into Nyx's ear. She was almost positive that she shivered and blushed even more than before when he did. "But maybe later."

Minato wrapped his arms around Nyx tightly, as if he was afraid of losing her.

And Nyx felt that in those arms… she belonged.

"I don't ever want to let go," Minato whispered.

Nyx returned the hug. "Then don't."

"Is it possible that we could stay like this forever?"

"No. But it can feel like it. That's good enough for me."

"It's as good as it's going to get, isn't it?

Nyx sighed. It was true. A year could seem long, but this one seemed very short. And after that year ended, then what happened? "Yeah. I'm sorry…"

"Don't be," Minato laughed, trying to keep his spirits up. "I'm not sorry that I fell for you."

"I'm not either. I'm just sorry I don't know what I want to do after the year ends. I don't know what would happen if I stayed," Nyx said, her voice trembling.

"Then, for just a little while… don't think about it."

_They spent a long time together…_


	8. Complications

Minato was lying on the bed, trying to find some kind of solace in his sleep after his frankly sobering conversation with his younger version of himself in his world. It wasn't working and before long, Nyx began to speak to him using her telepathy. He briefly wondered for what reason the night queen would be speaking to him.

"Minato?"Nyx asked anxiously. "Yeah?" The bluenette asked, awaiting an answer from the clearly nervous night queen. "Did you really mean what you said about me earlier?"Minato chuckled in amusement before answering. "Why would I lie about that of all things?" While the wielder of the Universe Arcana was a liar in a lot of situations, he wasn't one to just lie about what he felt about others.

"I guess… you do have a point." If he could see Nyx right now, she probably would have had a smirk pasted on her face. "You know, I'm the one who's supposed to be insecure here. So why are you the one worrying?" The bluenette asked with a grin.

"I guess… I just worry about you sometimes." The night queen sighed in relief. "My dear night queen, is that true?" Minato asked almost playfully. This of course was a joke because of what Nyx told him earlier about gods and goddesses in general. "You know for a fact that higher beings do not lie… Besides… this is something I wouldn't lie about either."

Without the control that the night queen had on her emotions, she was likely to have shouted it instead of saying it in such a smooth tone as she did. "Touché." Minato replied in a satisfied and low tone. He was probably expecting Nyx to burst out with indignation. Though with the time that he had been spending with her – a few months – he should've known that it was a lost cause to try and rile up the calm and collected night queen.

It was in his nature to try and upset people around him, especially when it was around friends and people that he trusted. That quality about him always assured that when he was trying to disturb someone, it was probably all in good fun or for a good reason. The only other person that it hadn't worked on was his younger counterpart in the timeline that he was stuck in.

Even as he thought about some more ways that he could try to rile up Nyx, this night queen seemed especially pensive as she paused her conversation with the bluenette. "Since you're being honest with me…" Nyx began. "I'm going to tell you something. The only thing I ask is that you don't laugh."

Minato halted his mischievous thoughts in favour of thinking about the reason that the night queen asked him in such a submissive way. It wasn't like her. She didn't ask for help from the bluenette, and she commanded respect with her noble demeanour and words already. There was no reason for her to ask that of Minato.

Unless it was something that she herself wasn't sure of; this was also unusual. Nyx carried herself in a way that seemed practiced and she very rarely stuttered in her sentences. "Um, ok?" Minato sat himself upright as he patiently waited for the rest of her words.

"Look, I've… become confused." 'About what?' was the thought that ran through Minato's head. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"I don't know what to think about my feelings about you anymore." Nyx stuttered out. "Do you consider me a friend?" She asked nervously. Minato wasn't very sure how to react to Nyx's question. Not too long ago, the younger version of himself asked him about what he felt about Nyx. While he did say that he thought that the night queen was kind, and that the only reason that he was sent to this alternate timeline was out of self-defence, that was all.

"…Sure I do." Minato replied. "That's just it!" Nyx shouted, carrying a lot of distress. "You care about me enough to consider me a friend, even though you know that you're going to have to kill me at the end of all this!" She explained shakily, still affected by the words that she was saying.

Minato blinked once or twice before listening in to the rest of the night queen's speech. "I wonder now… what my feelings for you. I wonder… if those emotions run deeper than just a normal, friend to friend relationship."

Minato swallowed down insecurity after insecurity, knowing that this was definitely something that he just could not laugh at. Not only were Nyx's words about as piercing as a spear, but his emotions were winding up too. "Is that right?"

"I mean, I care about you. I said it, and I know that you care about me too. Even after that, you're going to kill me, and…!" Minato stayed silent for a small while before stating, "It's just a bridge I'll have to cross… or burn when I get there." The wielder of the Universe Arcana thought that it would be a good time to visit his mindscape so that he could talk to Nyx in person.

He closed his eyes as he lay back onto his bed, concentrating on trying to find the sea of his soul. After some searching, he found himself in a familiar place to anyone that had attended Gekkoukan high school: the rooftop. The skies were blotted pink and orange in places, while light blue was splashed around as haphazard paint on an endless piece of canvas.

The night queen was sitting on one of the benches that you could find on the roof, and he approached her slowly and quietly before sitting down next to her. "I hope you're right about that…" Nyx sighed. "This is so strange… Why would you become friends with someone that you know you're going to kill?"

The stew of emotions that was brewing within the night queen's mind was beginning to stir quickly as she thought more on the reasons for that action of Minato's. "I wonder about that myself… But I can't stop now… Otherwise I think I'd feel even worse about it if I don't get to know you as much as possible." The same was happening to the wielder of the Universe Arcana, although in a quieter and subdued fashion.

"I might feel the same way…" The night queen mused. "Why do emotions have to hurt so much?" A question that even a human could answer easily let alone a goddess of death. "Why do emotions make you feel better?" Minato countered. "As it is… I'd rather have my emotions and feelings than none at all."

Nyx nodded in consideration. But unbeknownst to Minato, the emotions that she was feeling were spiralling farther and farther out of control. To the bluenette's surprise, his lips were captured in a lip lock with the night queen.

Not knowing what to do, he didn't do anything. Nyx did find a way in though after some moments, and it wasn't long before Minato succumbed to his urges and joined in the kiss with the goddess. He wasn't able to understand what he was feeling.

He simply didn't know how to react. Being a man of honour he did not support having multiple girls at the one time and knowing that Nyx was someone that he was going to kill later was sending him into a maelstrom of thoughts that left him stunned before the night queen broke free of the embrace.

"I'm so sorry!" She sobbed out, her cheeks still flushed and perhaps even glittering slightly as a result of the gold ichor that flowed through her in place of human blood. "I'm sorry…" She already knew that the bluenette was in love with that Mitsuru girl, but even then she tried it.

"Why did I do it!?" In all honesty, she did know why she did it. As much as she wanted to deny it. "I don't know… I have the same problem…" Minato was locked in a staring contest with the ground and the same went for Nyx. Neither of the things or people was winning out at this point, and waves of silence permeated the atmosphere, only being broken by a series of collisions against concrete, the source of the sounds being the night queen's fist.

Waves of stress and anger were leaking from the sounds that echoed in the stagnant air. The way that Nyx was using to relieve her stress just wasn't working. "I'm a goddess… what was I thinking!?" She muttered in fury.

The moments after Nyx's outburst were filled with an awkward quiet again. The atmosphere was so heavy it seemed that even the strongest winds from a hurricane couldn't cut through the stagnant silence.

All the while that the night queen was mumbling about her idiocy, the previous pent up feelings that were festering within Minato as well. Chaos was brewing inside his heart, and it was no secret that the turmoil he was feeling wasn't going to go away.

These common thoughts were running through his head: Are we friends? Did the relationship change? What does this make us? Heck, are we friends with benefits? The problems were swirling around his head, and he was making no progress to figuring it out.

Maybe that's just why…

Minato's lips were on Nyx's in a blur, and hers were captured in another kiss; a situation about as unexpected as the embrace given by the night queen earlier. Right now, there was no remorse. It was just massive amounts of tumult.

He kissed her.


	9. Ice

"I wish to duel you." Minato's eye twitched as he processed the frankly, outrageous command given by the redhead that was standing in front of him. "Sure… in the next five years maybe." That was probably the wrong thing to say to the imposing ice princess, as she began to fume and charge at him with her rapier in hand.

Minato saw this coming, and moved Frostbite to parry the metal that she was wielding. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

Orpheus was quite amused by the situation, but his chuckles would be cut short as Mitsuru summoned her Persona. Without her Evoker. "Now this is interesting…" Minato grinned as he too summoned Orpheus to aid him.

Knowing that Mitsuru had an affinity against Ice spells; Minato replaced Frostbite with Candlefyre, which was made of a Pyro Jack spirit. Orpheus began to barrage Agi spells on the Persona that Mitsuru summoned; Penthesilea. Said Persona moved to dodge the incoming Fire attacks, and started to blow cold winds on the musician using a Bufu spell.

With the Persona battle going on overhead, it was clear that things could go either way at this point. Despite Minato's handicap, he was holding off Mitsuru quite well and the redhead could see that.

The clashing of the Personae above was not to go unnoticed as a searing pain entered her chest, and she succumbed to the burns. Orpheus was triumphant in his victory, and he disappeared in blue mist and glass.

From what Minato gathered from the musician, he used an Agilao skill which he learned recently to finish off the stubborn Amazonian queen. Any damage that is dealt by Personae and to Personae becomes apparent on the user, as they suffer the same pain that their Personae do. After all, thou art I and I am thou…

Minato quickly switched his Persona to Pixie, and began to heal the Kirijo heiress' wounds and alleviate the pain by casting several Dia spells. With the amount of SP used by the constant healing pulses, Minato was feeling quite tired. Not physically, but mentally. "Man, I feel kinda woozy…" Mitsuru was finally able to get back up onto her feet, and she saw how tired Minato was from healing her.

She gave him a Snuff Soul so that he could restore his SP reserves, and the blue haired boy saw it as thanks and quickly swallowed it. It was either shove up nose or ingestion. After a few seconds, the cobalt haired contractor was feeling refreshed.

"Thanks Mitsuru-chan." His grin became wider as he noticed that the ice queen's cheeks were glowing red from the gratitude and the familiarity he was displaying.

"Um… you're welcome Minato-kun…" She stuttered out.


	10. The Prince and the Princess

"Mitsuru, what did you call me for?" Minato's attitude towards the angel-like girl, at least in appearance, was casual almost all the time. Considering the amount of time they spent together, that shouldn't have been a surprise. The bluenette sat down on one of the sofa's in the ice queen's room, visibly relaxed and comfortable.

"Well, you see… I… I know that you and I have been friends for a long time…" The cobalt haired leader's heart was starting to race, and whether it would calm down hung on the words of one red haired princess. 'Just say it already' was the dominating thought in the bluenette's head.

The words were tugging at him, nagging him, waiting on her response. "I just wanted to say 'thank you'." Was that it? No, it can't be. Her tone says there's something more, were some of the thoughts that ran through his head. "But, there was something else that kept nagging me for a while, and I think I figured out what it was…"

By now, Minato's heart rate was fluttering, and the same could be said for the normally cold ice princess. All that was left was for Mitsuru to push the remaining words out. "I love you." Those magic words left her in one bidden breath, in a soft and silky tone that not even Minako could reach when she was singing her best. Perhaps, even better than Minato. They left, as if practised, but they still held that anxiety that anyone would feel when they admitted this to anyone.

Minato had been keeping his affection for Mitsuru under the radar for the longest time, but the ice queen was the one who said it first. That desire to protect her and do whatever she wanted for her was a reflex that he carried by spending so much time with the red haired heiress of the Kirijo group. Whatever she told him to do, he would follow. Even if there was a small amount of dissent for some of her more unruly requests. All that was left for him now, was to agree. "I love you too… Mitsuru."

"Minato…" Mitsuru's scarlet and passionate eyes bored into the calm cyan coloured eyes that were Minato's as he stood up and approached her. The height difference between the two wasn't too big, but it was enough to make Minato have to bend down to reach Mitsuru's soft lips.

Once his and hers touched, it started out chaste until an unbridled feeling of lust started to build up and demand entrances to each other's mouths. For now, the feeling didn't go any farther than that, and they began their dance for dominance. It didn't seem like either of them were winning out, and the two were content with that. All they wanted was more, and that desire was equal.

It was Minato who broke the lip lock even as he had finally won the fight. "My, my… it seems my koushaku is good at this." The redhead breathed out, rather teasingly. Minato only grinned in response. It was the kind of smile that looked like it had been lost forever, but when he finally found it again… There wasn't any chance that he was going to lose that bright smile again. "What would you do if I wasn't, ojou-sama?" He whispered huskily into her ear. "Then you'd just have to get good at it."

Mitsuru was the one who initiated the kiss this time, and Minato was more than happy to oblige. He was more than up for the new relationship that they had forged. Unbeknownst to him, that unbreakable bond that he had been trying to forge with the empress had finally been completed…


	11. Meet

"So, dude. Guess you're Sanada Akihiko right?" The silver hired kid nodded as he turned around. "Cool. I'm Arisato Minato." I grinned. "I'm Kirijo Mitsuru." The redhead next to the bluenette introduced herself. "And you are Aragaki Shinjiro?" The ice queen asked. The beanie wearing brunette nodded slightly.

"Ok. What we're here to say is…" The Kirijo heiress continued for Minato.

"What we'd like to propose is a chance for you both to become stronger." The cobalt haired boy explained, "We'd like you to join out group which…"

"Is dedicated to eradicating the Dark Hour, what you two see every midnight." From this, the silver-haired boy and brunette flinched. "You mean… you can explain it to us?" Akihiko asked. Minato nodded. "Yup. Everything about it."

Mitsuru nodded. "We'd like you two to consider our offer, as not only do we offer boarding and several other facilities to help you in your education…" The bluenette shivered as she said 'help' and 'education.' "It's also a good opportunity to get stronger. Hey? Dudes, just consider it huh?"

The Shinjiro nodded dumbly, while Akihiko gulped. "Just come here if you think you're ready." Mitsuru handed the two friends a slip of paper with an address. "It should be easy to find." Minato quipped. And they'll be able to meet my sister too, the cobalt haired boy mused.

"See ya." With that, the blue haired boy and the redhead walked off.


	12. Tiny Clovers

What's the deal with all of the clovers around the dorm? Japan doesn't even celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Of course that also begged the question as to why Minato of all people knew about it, or why the person who was leaving all of the clovers knew about it too.

Minato sighed as he idly chewed on his thoughts and tofu. Was there something that he was missing or whatever? He felt like he was missing something. That and there was school to deal with as well. Fuck school, like seriously. He'd rather be in Tartarus. Fighting Shadows and collecting shit. That sounded more fun, and that stuff was life-threatening.

"Minato-kun, do you know who's leaving all of these clovers around?" Yukari asked as she walked downstairs. "They're everywhere, I swear…"

"I have no idea Yukari-chan," Minato answered. "I'm wondering myself."

"Really? Huh," Yukari nodded to herself. "Do you know why they're around anyways?"

"Well, it is St. Patrick's day today," Minato laughed. "It's an Irish holiday… I don't precisely know the purpose of it, but apparently it's on this day that it's basically an obligation to get drunk, wear green and drink eggnog."

… "No wait, that's Christmas," Minato rubbed the back of his head.

"Uh right," the brunette nodded. "Maybe I should look it up later," she mumbled. "Anyways, you done yet? We should get going soon."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty much done," Minato nodded before slurping down the last of his miso soup and leaving his dishes in the sink. "To another day of school I suppose."

Yukari nodded at that, and the two of them left for said institution of scary death and oblivion. And they could say that because their school was literally Tartarus, the Greek equivalent of hell. Convenient, wasn't it?

"Actually, where's Hamuko-chan? I didn't see her around this morning," Minato noted as he watched again the scenery of the water blurring by.

"Oh you didn't see her? Maybe she left early for something," Yukari replied. "I don't know why she would, but you know she's been getting into more clubs and stuff like that, so she might have a few more obligations that she has to attend to."

"I guess that makes sense," Minato chuckled nervously. He had not made that much of an effort to socialise or join in on group activities. Which was kinda bad for him since he was supposed to be doing Social Links and all that… his Wild Card and the Velvet Room demanded it. "But she doesn't usually leave for anything else, even if she somehow got involved in some big club activities. She might be doing something else if that's the case."

"Maybe. I don't really know…" Yukari laughed a little. "Oh well. Hopefully we'll see her around at school."

"Hopefully we will, _right_?" Minato smiled a little, saying 'right' in English instead of Japanese.

"…_right_," Yukari agreed.

…

As usual, Minato became prey to the dangerous predator that was sleep. "Mi-na-to-kun…"

"Huh wha?" Minato lifted his head up to see the person that had disturbed him. God that voice was sickeningly sweet, but he couldn't help but like it somehow. He always liked it, despite the fact that hearing that voice was swallowing mounds of vanilla ice cream (vanilla flavour was Minato's favourite kind of ice cream) over and over again, and somehow not getting brain freeze. How did that make sense? Well, there was a good piece of advice:

Too much of a good thing could never end well.

"Oh Hamuko-chan… where were you this morning?" Minato asked curiously.

"I was just going around and doing some stuff," Hamuko shrugged. "You know I like my secrets, _right_?" she giggled.

Minato rubbed the back of his head. Of course he knew that. And perhaps of note, Hamuko was the one that always said random English in her sentences. Minato got that habit from her. Actually, he got a lot of habits from her. Like randomly hugging people. That one was always awkward when he did that. Hamuko never got any weird looks since she was a cute girl. And of course, cute girls never really got attacked for something like that. "Yeah, I know," he replied.

"Good! We're on the same wavelength here!" Hamuko grinned, slapping Minato on the back lightly. Minato suppressed a groan. Despite what she had said before, he always thought that she was strong.

He nodded vigorously once he recovered, and he stood up to raid the melon bread stock downstairs. "You coming with?" Minato asked, already knowing the answer.

"Sure," Hamuko laughed as she took Minato's hand and rushed him downstairs. That store of melon bread would be _annihilated_.

Not a few moments later, the duo bought out the rest of the stock of melon bread and they made their ways to the rooftop in order to eat it peace. No doubt it would be devoured quickly. "So you still gonna explain what you were doing…?" Minato trailed off as Hamuko stood up and gave him a mischievous smile. He hadn't seen that expression on her before. Whatever it was, regardless of the consequences of that smile, he thought that it was uber cute.

No, he wasn't embarrassed for thinking that. He'd been friends long enough with Hamuko to know that compliments and thoughts of cuteness were pretty normal. Back to the situation.

The last of the melon bread was swallowed, and Hamuko laughed a little as she brushed off the crumbs from her mouth. Minato gulped. How was it that she was able to do it like that? Just go up and brush it off like she had paws instead of hands and legs instead of arms, why doesn't she?

"H-Hamuko-chan?" he asked nervously.

"Minato-kun?" she echoed his sentiments, still looking at him with that glint in her eyes.

"What were you doing…?" Minato blinked.

"Hm…" Hamuko just grinned, pondering whether she should tell him what she was doing or not. Or could she wait? Meh. One train of thought was running and it wasn't that one. She glomped Minato, flooring him hard. "I dunno if I want to tell you…" she said, playing with the ribbon that was tied around his neck to secure his collar.

Minato looked up at Hamuko with widened eyes, breathing hard. What was she doing? Oof. She sat on his stomach. "H-Hamuko… c-can't breathe…" he rasped as Hamuko just laughed at his reaction.

"You're blushing," she noted, poking his cheeks. "For once you're the one looking cute, not me!" Hamuko cheered, sitting next to Minato instead of on his tummy.

"Y-You're still cuter than I am!" he exclaimed. "You're always cuter than everyone!"

"Awwh, thanks Minato," she grinned as Minato sat up, with his breath back.

…Conveniently lost when Hamuko pressed her lips onto Minato's.

Minato flailed for a few moments, but eventually he settled down and just went with it. Eventually he started to notice that under the taste of melon bread, there was yet another note of sweetness that he didn't expect. Once Hamuko broke away, she grinned. "V-Vanilla…" he mumbled.

"You noticed," Hamuko laughed happily. "Yes, it's St. Patrick's day."

"Eh, well, that was kinda obvious," Minato nodded dumbly. "U-Uh, why'd you kiss me like that?"

"You haven't noticed already Minato?" Hamuko gasped. "You're denser than I thought!"

"…no, I got that, but seriously, why?" Minato continued.

"Because. There isn't anyone else I'd be with now. You're awesome and cool, and kind, and funny and cute," Hamuko said, poking Minato's nose playfully.

"Uh really?" he said shyly.

"Yes silly," she grinned. "Also, happy birthday Minato, since you obviously forgot and you needed a reminder!"

…Minato mentally facepalmed. It _was_ his birthday. How did he forget that? "Um… thanks Hamuko…" Saying her name felt kinda different.

"Yup," Hamuko nodded in agreement before handing Minato a silver packet filled with a light, crunchy sounding… something. He wasn't sure what it was. "You can open it you know? It was kind of a last minute present so…"

"U-Uh right," Minato said with yet another gulp before tearing the present open, finding inside a light, cream coloured block.

Before Minato could even ask what it was, Hamuko interrupted. "It's dried ice cream. It actually tastes strangely good," she shrugged. "I told you, it's probably a crap present."

Minato raised an eyebrow at that declaration, deciding that the only way to find out what it was like was to eat it. So he did, finding that the 'ice cream' was airy and light, kinda like a wafer. The strange dry block turned into sweet, warm paste in his mouth and it wasn't long before the rest of it was gone. "It was vanilla flavour too… you really know that I like that stuff, don't you?" Minato laughed a little.

"You keep eating whole tubs of it and stash it in the freezer. It was pretty obvious. Junpei goes to Hagakure, Yukari won't eat that kinda stuff often, I can't imagine Mitsuru or Akihiko liking it either, so it had to be you," Hamuko deduced succinctly.

"So the cookies and cream flavour is yours, isn't it?" Minato smirked.

"Yeah, it is," Hamuko nodded. "You see, we know each other that well!"

"…we do, don't we?" Minato laughed. "Alright. If you're really okay with me the-"

"Shh. Minato. Stop belittling yourself and just go with it!" Hamuko pouted.

Argh. Hit with Charm, Minato cursed inwardly. "Fine, but tell me one last thing before I kiss you."

"What?" Hamuko asked with that mischievous grin once more.

"You were the one that left all the clovers around the dorm, weren't you?" Minato asked, although his tone was flat and matter-of-factly.

Hamuko just whistled and presented a clover to Minato. "Thought so…" He eyed the little green plant before his jaw dropped. "That's a four-leafed clover, where'd you get it!?"

"You're overly lucky," Hamuko said simply.

"Yeah," Minato chuckled a bit before kissing Hamuko briefly. "I guess I am," he agreed.

"Don't you know it," Hamuko smiled, pulling Minato towards her in a kiss.

_They spent a long time together…_


	13. Dimension Crossover

Minato began to look around. Just another day teleporting to another dimension, and he had landed in Paulownia Mall. Another Paulownia Mall, he was sure. "Man, the Universe Arcana is sure convenient." As he scanned the area, he felt another SP signature materialising around the area. In fact, it felt very familiar to him. All too familiar…

"Wait where's Nyx!?" This blue haired person that just materialised before his eyes looked exactly like him. In fact, he was almost certain that this was him from another dimension. With an experience like the one that he had earlier when Minato was zapped to another dimension it wasn't going to be much of a surprise for him.

And also… what was that buzzing in the distance? That was the thought that crossed both of the blue haired people's minds. Minato was sceptical of the sound however the cursing that the other blue-haired person could hear was beginning to get on his nerves.

'You bastards, I'll kill you,' Was what rung out in the air and it set one of the blue haired people off.

"Hey, what's that? It looks like a midget from here," Minato asked the cobalt haired lookalike.

"I dunno but he has blue hair and he's cursing like a mindless psycho. He pisses me off," He replied, charging a bit of SP in his palm before throwing it at said midget.

"Um, isn't that a bit overkill? From what I can tell he's nowhere near as strong as us," Minato asked the blue haired person. And if there's a murder on their hands again he wasn't going to stick around to clean up the mess. The blue haired person was more concerned about stopping the ramblings of that psycho.

Said psycho was blown back considerably by the Megidola that the blue haired person had used. "Nah, I could've just used a Morning Star but I guess this will do," He replied nonchalantly. Minato pinched the bridge of his nose at that. Still, that was kinda uncalled for.

"You son of a…" The cobalt haired psycho cursed as he struggled up to his knees.

"Well… I guess," Minato said with a questionable tone. He wouldn't have used a Megidola… He still thought it could have been resolved with a single one of his punches. From what he could tell, this other Minato that just threw that ball of Almighty energy was decently strong.

The blue haired boy was getting ticked off by this psycho's antics by now, and he was erupting in rage with showers of SP. "Alright! This punk's gonna get his ass kicked!"

Minato sighed and released a bit of the Avatar's killing intent, however it was then that the blue haired boy started to protest. "Whoa, whoa, back off. He's mine," He said.

Minato shoulders slumped at that. He just wanted to resolve this with a little less violence! Was that so bad? "Aw… alright," He said sadly.

Right then as the blue haired boy was about to unleash an attack on the downed psycho a girl with auburn hair up in a ponytail came running towards him and enveloped him in a hug. "Oh my sweet Minato-kun, are you okay?"

"S-sis?" The blue haired boy stuttered. Was it his sister? His onee-san? His heart began pumping painfully fast, racing as he stared at the auburn haired girl.

"She looks just like Minako…" Minato commented under his breath. However, he knew that there was no way that the girl in front of him could be Minako. She was back in his old world where he was going to go back after messing around in some of the alternate worlds.

The blue-haired boy's eyes widened as he saw his 'onee-san' hug that psycho. What was she doing hugging him? "Minato-kun…"

So, that guy is Minato as well? Man, that was going to get confusing if all three of their names were actually Minato. Minato's thoughts were interrupted as the blue haired boy next to him burst out with, "Whoa, mindfuck! Why the hell is she hugging him? And who the hell is Minako?"

"Who's Hamuko? Minako's my imoto, she looks exactly like her," Minato answered.

"She might be someone else then, because the one over there is my Hamuko-nee!" The blue haired boy exclaimed.

"Wait, just a minute! Before we go over and check, what's your name?" Minato asked.

"My name's Arisato Minato, why?" The newly known Minato answered.

"My name's Arisato Minato as well…" Minato said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Know what? Call me Makoto, this is going to get confusing."

"Uh… okay Makoto?" Minato said unsurely before running over to the duo of the auburn haired girl and the blue haired psycho.

"Then… what am I going to call lover boy over there?" Makoto wondered as he approached them.

"That blue haired punk hypnotised my sweet sister…" Minato muttered before enveloping his 'onee-chan' in a tackle hug. "Sis!"

Makoto knew at this moment that things were going to get awkward between the trio over there. He kept walking before he heard the now hugging Minato say, "Oh sis, I missed you so much!"

"Uh… s-s-sis?" The auburn haired girl stuttered as a shade of pink tinted her cheeks. Why did he think that she was his onee-chan?

"Uh, can we all just calm down, Minato?" Makoto sighed. "And give the girl some space to breathe. What's your name?"

Minato hesitantly let go of her before she answered with a cheery voice, "My name's Hamuko!"

"See, that proves she's my onee-chan!" Minato exclaimed. "Hey, the blue haired punk's still out!"

Well, you did just hit him with a Megidola of all things when his power level is far below yours… Makoto shook his head before trying to rationalise the situation once more. "Say, what's his name?"

"He's my Minato-kun!" Hamuko smiled before kissing him briefly on the forehead.

By this point, the still conscious Minato was shaking with rage. He still could not understand how his onee-chan could be with this punk of all people. Makoto was biting his lip. This was getting even more confusing by the second. How the hell could there be two Minatos with him!? One of them was from this world, and the other was from an alternate dimension as well!

"What the hell's going on here? Why are there so many Minatos around here, and why is there a Hamuko here that-" Makoto was cut off by a flustered Minato.

"What's she doing with him!?" Minato growled. "Screw this dimension thingy, why the hell is sis kissing HIM of all people!?"

The downed Minato finally came back to the realm of the conscious and began hugging Hamuko back. "Hey, back off her!" Minato snarled.

"Definitely for sure this time. This girl is different to my imoto. She was in love with Shinjiro anyways," Makoto rubbed his temple as he tied to sort the situation out.

"Shinjiro? As much as I hate to say it, he's dead…" Minato said sadly.

"Wait, what!?" Makoto shouted.

Minato shrugged before asking the confused Makoto, "Yeah, have you been living under a rock or something?"

"Y-yeah… you punk," The downed Minato muttered to Makoto. He was sure Hamuko loved him, and he loved her back. What the fuck was he talking about?

"In my world he's alive. Shinjiro and I are best buddies," Makoto said. Things are definitely a lot different to what his world was like, not to mention that alternate dimension that he went to. The one where he met his chocolate-obsessed other self. "And can you stop with that attitude already? I swear any further that you tell me that you go on killing sprees then I'll say you're almost as bad as my Shadow!"

"In my world he got killed by that bastard Takaya," Minato muttered with a dark tone as his eyes turned black and the mall started shuddering with his rage.

"And in my world, Takaya's actually not that bad. Especially after I fixed up everything there," Makoto sighed before deadpanning at the enraged Minato. If he didn't stop that, he would have liked to just smack him upside the head and beat some sense into him. "Never mind, so long as you don't hurt someone," He eventually shrugged. "Does this guy have an off-switch? He keeps glaring at me," Makoto asked Minato.

What the hell is he talking about? I humoured him before with the notion that we were from different worlds but he's actually serious! Ugh, It's something I'll worry about later. With that, Minato turned to respond to Makoto's earlier question. "I dunno. Let's hit him everywhere and see if we push the right button!

"Death!" The remaining, psychotic Minato shouted. As he did that, Thanatos appeared behind him.

Minato yawned as he saw that Persona. "Talk about puny," He muttered.

Makoto was in fact smiling when he saw Thanatos. Thanatos and he were great friends, and was one of his main partners. "Well anyways, I don't think we should do that. Hamuko appears to care about him a lot," He said to the unamused Minato.

"Yeah, but she's still hugging that jerk…" Minato growled. "Oh Ryoji I could kick you backwards with my left arm only…"

"I'm pretty sure she's different…" Makoto sighed before summoning Thanatos. The death god appeared behind him, and made a staring contest with the other Thanatos.

With that summoning, the remaining Minato summoned Thanatos as well, joining the staring contest. After a few moments of tense silence…

"Brother!"

"Group hug!"

The three Thanatos Personae shouted before doing a merry happy dance in the air above them. "Welp, more mindfucks," The last Minato commented.

"I should've known that would happen. But mine's a bit of a special case since my Thanatos was formed from a Social Link with a girl and not with… Ryoji," Makoto commented absentmindedly.

"What? You can summon Death too?" The more psychotic Minato asked with an incredulous tone.

"Hm… a harem… Ah well, I have Sakura," Minato thought aloud.

"Who the fuck is Sakura? And why the hell are you both imitating me!?" The weaker Minato yelled in rage. There's only one of me, right?

"Ah, just shut up already!" Minato said with an exasperated tone as he slapped the other across the cheek.

Makoto had half a mind to say there was a Hysterical Slap attack charged in that slap of his but he didn't comment on it out loud. "Okay… Meh, Nyx is the only one for me," Makoto smiled as he thought about that Night Queen of his.

"Wait, NYX!?" Minato shouted, obviously shocked.

"Yup, she's a real cutie," Makoto replied with a cheerful tone.

"So in another dimension, I'm making out with the goddess of death? Seems legit," Minato muttered with a raised eyebrow.

"Yup. Let me guess… Mitsuru?" Makoto asked Minato. She was his girlfriend once upon a time, but… He ended up with Nyx. He had to admit that sometimes his relationship with that Night Queen was a bit strained at times with all the shit that was happening and the fact that he couldn't be with her for that long. But, he could work through it.

"Huh? Why would I be with either of those two?" The weakest Minato asked with a frown.

Minato shrugged. "Yuko and Chiriro got rejected. Yukari, then Liz, then Sakura and then Mitsuru."

"I see, makes sense. I'd rather stay with Nyx though…" Makoto said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Can you STOP ignoring me?" The weaker Minato growled.

"Oh, my poor Minato-kun…" Hamuko said sadly before giving him a few more kisses.

"Alright, that's it sis! Get away from that scum!" Minato snarled.

"You're cursing yourself, you know?" Makoto sighed. And him too. He wasn't going to get insulted like that, even if it was pretty indirect.

"I don't care," Minato said with an irritated tone.

"But, I'm not your sister," Hamuko replied with a questioning tone. He kept on going on about her being his sister. She found it pretty weird to say the least. She most certainly was not related to anyone else as a brother, and definitely not if he looked exactly like her Minato-kun.

"Wow, harsh," Makoto put on a bit of an apologetic face as he said that.

After a few moments of awkward silence, "So you're Nyarly huh?" Minato glared at Hamuko.

The weaker Minato looked around with a sceptical look before saying, "Nyar-wha?"

Hamuko began sweating at Minato's vicious glare. He could be really scary when he wanted to. "W-Whoa, chill there y-you're cute too…" She stuttered out.

"So, it hasn't occurred to you that in some other worlds there might be other Hamukos running around in other dimensions?" Makoto pinched the bridge of his nose. He would've thought that it was the most obvious thing if the Hamuko or Minako that you know is not around. That's why there were other Minatos as well…

"From what I know, your Hamuko doesn't have magical dimension hopping powers. Like me," Makoto said with a shrewd tone. The weakest Minato rose an eyebrow at his frankly, screwy explanation. It was just… weird. This Makoto punk was weird.

"Oh right. So by extension, I'm cute too?" Makoto asked, though it was more to him than anyone else. After chuckling a little bit he continued to say, "Just joking."

Thankfully.

"Are you on crack dude? Cut it out with the dimension stuff already," Minato rubbed his temples, his eye twitching. He really just could not take what this Makoto guy was saying seriously. It sounded incredibly farfetched.

The weakest Minato growled before jumping up from his spot and grabbing the collars of both Minato and Makoto. "I'm the cutest!" He yelled angrily.

"Should you really be saying that?" Makoto chuckled before teleporting from Minato's grasp. Easy to get out from. "Also, I'm not lying. There's no other possible way that you could have gotten here. With Nyx assisting me and the Universe Arcana just about anything is possible."

"Right…" Minato deadpanned before trying to summon the combined powers of his friends to make up the Universe Arcana and breaking the weaker Minato's arm, releasing Minato from his grip. "Cool."

Makoto sighed. That Minato really did not need to do that. He cast a Diarahan spell on the weaker Minato's broken arm, earning him a snap from said boy. "I didn't need your help punk," Minato growled.

Makoto's eye twitched. This guy, this version of him… how the fuck did he become such a jerk?

Meanwhile, the other Minato snapped his fingers to make a pizza box appear in his hands. "Whoa, this dimension stuff is cool," He smiled slightly before opening it up.

"Mind sharing that?" Hamuko asked with a sweet tone.

Makoto shrugged off that snark from that weaker Minato and summoned a Kit-Kat from a hidden stash. Which he secretly just stole from his 'otouto.' Meh, he was sure that Minato wouldn't mind… "It's… useful."

"Yup, pretty much," Minato replied with a tone of agreement before handing a slice to Hamuko. With that Hamuko gave Minato a peck on the cheek, making him blush a little. "G-Geez…" He stuttered.

"Stop ignoring me, bitch!" The weaker Minato growled.

"Well what'll happen if we stop?" Makoto asked. It was a real question and not just a joke. Okay, maybe it was a little bit…

"That is a pretty good point… What's in it for us?" Minato smirked, patting him on the back. "Besides kid, you're like level thirty. Go grind in Tartarus."

"And I'm above level on hundred… well above actually," Makoto commented offhand. In truth he was probably a lot higher levelled than that because of the Universe Arcana and all but… To be honest he wasn't that sure anymore.

"Hey, wanna grab some coffee?" Minato asked.

Makoto shrugged. He wasn't that big a fan of coffee, and he said as much. "What about some froyo then?"

"Hell yes, let's get some froyo!" Makoto cheered. Even though he was a lot older than the two Minatos that he just met would ever know he still loved froyo.

Just as Minato began to walk, he stopped. He could sense something was seriously wrong. "Hey, what's up?" Makoto asked as he followed after him.

"Those squeals… those terrible squeals…" he looked around frantically before he turned around, seeing the faces of the hungry beasts that were… "FANGIRLS!"

All within in a few seconds, the three Minatos were tackled to the ground by the horde of fangirls. After a long scuffle that even Makoto could not teleport from, they were left.

"Ugh… lipstick…" The weakest muttered as he wiped some of the foul substance off his cheek.

"I should've seen that coming…" Makoto groaned before he realised that his hair was well reaching his shoulders just like when… "Where the fuck's my ribbon!?"

"T-they got my boxers…" Minato whimpered. "I don't know how…"


End file.
